Abstract
This latest lecture looks at the prospects for the field: the great observatories of the future, such as E-ELT (the 39-m European telescope in Chile), JWST (the new infrared space telescope), ALMA in the millimeter range, the European satellite Euclid, or the one-square-kilometer radio interferometer (SKA), will provide gigantic surveys, including billions of galaxies, enabling us to better understand the formation and evolution of structures. The growth of structures will be quantified with such precision that the nature of dark matter, or modified gravity, will be illuminated. Measurements of the red-shifted 21 cm line will enable us to determine the rotation curves and dark halo distribution of primordial galaxies, which we know only for local galaxies today. Gravitational lenses in the millions will enable us to better trace dark matter at any given time, and galaxy cluster collisions can be studied statistically. Numerous tests of modified gravity can be carried out with precision, such as the formation of tidal dwarfs during galaxy interactions and mergers, dwarfs that are not expected to possess dark matter, and so on.
