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Event Detail (Archived)

Communicating Science through the Arts: The Big Bang, Black Holes, and Gravitational Waves

  • This event already took place in April 2018
  • Caspary Auditorium

Event Details

Type
Lewis Thomas Prize
Speaker(s)
Kip S. Thorne, Ph.D., recipient of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics; Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
Event URL
https://www.rockefeller.edu/lewis-thomas-prize/2018-ceremony/
Speaker bio(s)

Dr. Kip Thorne’s passion for physics has not only fueled major scientific achievements, it also has driven him to share its marvels with people far outside academia. His contributions to the discovery of gravitational waves earned him the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, and he has spread his knowledge and awe about general relativity to millions of individuals through books and film. Born in Logan, Utah, Dr. Thorne made a fateful visit to a bookstore when he was 13 years old. There, he found George Gamow’s science book for the general public, One Two Three…Infinity. Dr. Thorne read it three times and then decided to become a physicist—attending California Institute of Technology as an undergraduate and Princeton for his Ph.D. Dr. Thorne is currently the Feynman Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology.

From the beginning of his career, Dr. Thorne knew he wanted to inspire and teach lay people about the beauty of physics. Toward that end, he wrote Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy, a book that covers general relativity, how scientists learn, and how ideas change. Dr. Thorne later embarked on a movie project with Lynda Obst that culminated in Interstellar. His follow-up book, The Science of Interstellar, explains the incredible laws of the universe that informed their filmmaking. Dr. Thorne is now participating in a series of multimedia concerts about warped space and time. He is also working on a book with painter Lia Halloran and on a second movie. Dr. Thorne has received many honors in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the Karl Schwarzschild Medal, the UNESCO Niels Bohr Gold Medal, and a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Open to
Public
Reception
Refreshments, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Abby Lounge and Dining Room
Contact
Christine Hodgson
Phone
(212) 327-8966
Sponsor
Christine Hodgson
(212) 327-8966
chodgson@rockefeller.edu
Notes
Reception: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.; Prize Presentation and Lecture: 6:30-7:30 p.m.


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