From galaxies to knees
Connor Bottrell is a research fellow who uses large datasets to study galaxy collisions and the mystery of dark matter. His career path has taken him from Canada to Japan, and he is currently pursuing research in Australia.
Why it matters
Understanding dark matter and galaxy formation is fundamental to modern cosmology and our understanding of the universe's composition.
Atoms & Galaxies To infinity and beyond Science & Society The Creatures Born From Code Atoms & Galaxies THE SKY TONIGHT: AUGUST 2026 Connor Bottrell didn’t look through a telescope until he was an adult, which makes his current job all the more intriguing.
Today, the Forrest Foundation Research Fellow studies galaxies. More accurately, he studies the chaos that ensues when galaxies crash into each other.
“The big question I’m trying to answer is what is the missing mass in the universe?” he says.
The vast majority of mass in our universe is unaccounted for . There’s an invisible something hiding out there. We know it’s there because it leaves its fingerprints on the things in the universe we can see – the light, gas and stars.
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