Juan Soler, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, U of T

Spider is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to probe the ultimate frontier of Hot Big Bang cosmology: Inflation. In order to achieve its goal, Spider needs unprecedented control of systematics without becoming too heavy to fly. During the discussion, PhD candidate Soler told the story of how a few grams can become an abyss, separating us from exploring the early Universe.