Dark Energy: A Lot of Fuss About Nothing

About a decade ago, astronomers and cosmologists were shocked to discover that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating, contrary to expectations that gravity would lead to a decelerating Universe. This discovery has lead to the introduction of “Dark Energy”; a proposed energy field potentially associated with the vacuum energy of space itself. In this talk, I will begin by reviewing the observations of the Universe that have forced us to accept Dark Energy. I will then outline the next steps in understanding the strange phenomenon including testing our fundamental assumptions of General Relativity and exploring how dark energy may change to time. Time permitting, I will conclude with a look at the next decade of dark energy experiments.