Agenda
Upcoming Institut Pasteur general lecture with the President of the French Academy of Sciences, Françoise Combes, on February 19, 2026
The Institut Pasteur is delighted to invite the entire Institut Pasteur community to the upcoming Institut Pasteur general lecture entitled "The Big Bang and the history of the universe," given by astrophysicist and President of the French Academy of Sciences Françoise Combes on February 19, 2026, from 4.30 to 5.45pm, in the CIS auditorium and via Zoom.
The idea behind this lecture series, jointly coordinated by the Scientific Affairs Division and the Department of Communications and Public Affairs, is to invite renowned experts from fields other than biology (natural sciences, formal science, humanities and social sciences, etc.) to come and share their research in an accessible way to stimulate creativity at the Institut Pasteur, foster acculturation and spark curiosity about key societal issues that complement the themes in the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan.
Françoise Combes is an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory and Emeritus Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Galaxies and Cosmology Chair since 2014 and President of the Academy of Sciences since January 2025. Her research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies in a cosmological context. Using numerical simulations, she was the first to discover the mechanism by which bulges form in spiral galaxies, through vertical resonances of stellar bars. She was also a pioneer in molecular absorptions in front of distant quasars, leading to constraints on the variation of fundamental constants. Françoise Combes was awarded the CNRS Gold Medal in 2020 and the L'Oréal-UNESCO International Prize for Women in Science in 2021.
In this latest general lecture, Françoise Combes will explore the history of the discoveries that have considerably enlarged our cosmos, which began with a Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago.
In the early 20th century, we believed that our galaxy, the Milky Way, made up the entire universe. As well as multitudes of stars, it contained a variety of huge astronomical objects referred to as nebulae, in a wide range of shapes and colors. Some of these nebulae moved at incredible speeds, for reasons that were not understood. Using distance indicators, experts established that the nebulae were worlds of their own, galaxies situated several million light-years away.
The universe has been expanding at an ever faster rate for the past five billion years, driven by dark energy. What is the nature of this energy and invisible matter? How are the galaxies and large structures in the universe formed? Do these large structures come from quantum vacuum fluctuations, inflated to macroscopic scales by cosmic inflation?
Save the date of Thursday February 19, 2026 to attend the lecture by Françoise Combes on "The Big Bang and the history of the universe" and ask your questions.
The event will be followed by a drinks reception to offer an opportunity for more informal discussions.
For those who are unable to come to the auditorium in person, here is the link to join the event via Zoom (open in your browser). The presentation will be in French but simultaneous interpreting in English will be available via the Zoom AI Companion.