Hayden Planetarium Programs
Frontiers Lecture: Demystifying Black Holes
December 11, 2017
Black holes are both astrophysical phenomena and theoretical “laboratories” where scientists test their understanding of physics. From gravitational radiation to X-ray binary star systems, Steven Gubser and Frans Pretorius use creative thought experiments to explain the fantastical properties of black holes, and how the same qualities that capture the public imagination inform today’s research.
A book signing follows.
About the Speakers
Steven Gubser is a professor of physics at Princeton University. He works on string theory, black holes, heavy ion collisions, and aspects of condensed matter theory and theoretical cosmology and focuses particularly on the gauge-string duality, which relates gauge theories in four flat spacetime dimensions to string theory in five or ten curved dimensions. In 2010, he wrote a book on string theory entitled The Little Book of String Theory.
Frans Pretorius is a professor of physics at Princeton University. His primary field of research is Einstein’s theory of general relativity and his specialty is in the numerical solution of field equations. Some of his new and ongoing projects include understanding the nature of gravitational wave emission from binary compact object mergers, the stability and dynamics of higher-dimensional black holes, and the nature of singularities that generically appear in black hole and cosmological spacetimes.
Support for Hayden Planetarium Programs is provided by the Schaffner Family and the Horace W. Goldsmith Endowment Fund.
More in this Series:

Astronomy Live: Exoplanets
April 24, 2018
Jackie Faherty will take you on a virtual tour of our local galactic neighborhood and explore the diversity of potential living conditions on newly discovered extrasolar planets.

Frontiers Lecture: Planetary Origin Stories
May 14, 2018
By studying and compiling “snapshots” from nearby stars, Alycia Weinberger takes us on a journey back in time to the origins of planets.

Astronomy Live: Multiwavelength Universe
May 29, 2018
The universe is full of light, from the many hues of the visible spectrum to waves we can’t see like X-rays, gamma rays, and infrared light. Join Brian Levine, Emily Rice, and Jana Grcevich and explore the universe through a different lens.

Frontiers Lecture: Mercury Rising
June 11, 2018
Join guides Denton Ebel and Carter Emmart for an up-close examination of our solar system’s smallest planet—Mercury.

Astronomy Live: Summer Skies
June 26, 2018
Joe Rao and Ted Williams highlight the spectacular sights of the summer sky.