7:30 pm, Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Fairmont Lounge, St. John's College
2111 Lower Mall, UBC

Gravitation and the Cosmos: 100 Years after Einstein's Discovery of General Relativity

Abhay Ashtekar

2015 marks the centennial of Einstein's discovery of general relativity, a theory with an unprecedented combination of mathematical elegance, conceptual depth and observational success. The talk will recount this discovery and the birth of modern cosmology, then discuss black holes and the major role they have played in astrophysics and fundamental physics, and finally explain the notion of gravitational waves. Through numerous historical anecdotes, I will illustrate a century of successive triumphs of general relativity, and explain why researchers continue to be enchanted by its magic, even a century after its discovery.

To learn more please visit his webpage.

This lecture is one of the PITP's special public events to celebrate the Centenary of General Relativity. You can find the resource material here.

Additional resources for this talk: slides(not available yet) and video.