2025 Misel Family Public Lecture

Speaker: Professor Kip Thorne, California Institute of Technology

The William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute is proud to host the 18th Annual Misel Family Public Lecture. This lecture is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Questions? Please contact us at [email protected] or 612-625-6055. We look forward to seeing you there!

Abstract: In 1964, when Thorne was a student, there were hints that our universe might have a Warped Side:  Objects and phenomena made from warped space and warped time instead of from matter.  Thorne and his colleagues have spent these past sixty years turning those hints into clear understanding.  They have explored the Warped Side through theory (using mathematics and computer simulations to probe what the laws of physics predict) and through astronomical observations (primarily with gravitational waves). In this lecture he will describe what they have learned about Warped-Side phenomena:  black holes, wormholes, gravitational waves, our universe’s big-bang birth, and the possibility of time travel.

Please register through the UMN Events Calendar (registration is encouraged but not required).