The State of the Universe: Cosmological Parameters 2002

Abstract

In the past decade, observational cosmology has had one of the most exciting periods in the past century. The precision with which we have been able to measure cosmological parameters has increased tremendously, while at the same time, we have been surprised beyond our wildest dreams by the results. I review here recent measurements of the expansion rate, geometry, age, matter content, and equation of state of the universe, and discuss the implications for our understanding of cosmology.Comment: 20 pages, To appear in Proceedings, ESO-CERN-ESA Symposium on Astronomy, Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, March 2002. Typo in final table fixe