Alumni and guests are invited to join the Oxford and Cambridge Club of Geneva for dinner at the Restaurant Gastronomique Vieux Bois. After dinner, Professor Alvaro De Rujula will tell us about some astonishing known-unknowns in our Universe and will be ready to answer any of your questions that can be answered.

We may not feel ordinary but we are made of so-called ordinary matter, like planets and stars ... and légumes de saison. But some 95% of our Universe is made of two extra-ordinary substances: dark matter and dark energy. How do we know this and what on Earth, so to speak, are they? Arguably, these are the most challenging questions in physics today.

Alvaro De Rújula graduated with a PhD in physics from the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, in 1968. He has worked at the International Institute of Theoretical Physics in Trieste, at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Paris-Saclay, and at Harvard and Boston Universities. He was a CERN Summer Student in 1963, a staff member from 1977, and leader of the Theory Division 1997–2000.

As well as being a prominent theorist in his main research fields of particle astrophysics and cosmology, De Rujula is known for his highly individualistic presentations and quirky illustrations. OUP recently published Enjoy our Universe – You have no other choice, to share, with the general public, his enthusiasm for the basic functioning of this place where we happen to be. The message? Physics may involve some heavy lifting but it is tremendous fun.