News > Julian Muñoz has a ‘ruler’ that could size up the early universe

Julian Muñoz has a ‘ruler’ that could size up the early universe

Julian Muñoz, a theoretical physicist, developed a ruler to measure the early universe during the period known as cosmic dawn. This era, when stars first began to form after the Big Bang, is poorly understood. Muñoz's ruler uses subtle ring-shaped patterns imprinted in the 21-centimetre absorption signal of hydrogen gas to reveal the behaviour of dark matter, shedding light on the composition of the early universe and its expansion.