“The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the ISS”

Nobel Laureate in Physics and member of the MIT Samuel Ting delivered this lecture in April 2016. In this talk, Ting presents the main discoveries made by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02), installed on the International Space Station. After more than a decade of operation and the recording of 200 billion cosmic events, the AMS has become a key instrument for studying cosmic rays, antimatter, and dark matter. Ting explains how these observations help address some of the most important open questions in particle physics and modern astrophysics.

This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics. The fifth edition explores issues such as cosmic rays and anti-matter, the evolution of galaxies and the role played by black holes, the exploration of the Solar System, and the detection of gravitational waves.