There is a Warped Side to our Universe: objects and phenomena that are made from warped space and warped time. Examples include black holes and the big-bang singularity from which the Universe was born. The ideal tool for probing this mysterious Warped Side is radiation that itself is made from warped space-time: "gravitational waves". Thorne will describe the warped side of our universe and the quest to probe it with gravitational waves.
In the 1960s Thorne studied under the tutelage of the late John A. Wheeler at Princeton. Today he is the current Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech and one of the world's leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein's theory of general relativity. A longtime friend of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, Thorne's ideas about wormholes and time-travel have been used in the movie Contact and in the upcoming film produced by Steven Spielberg, Interstellar. Not only is Thorne a renowned scientist, he is also an exceptional teacher. He has long been applauded for his ability to communicate abstract astrophysical ideas in a way that is both easy to understand and entertaining.
With John A. Wheeler and C.W. Misner, Thorne authored the definitive textbook Gravitation. Kip Thorne also wrote the best-selling book "Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy". Thorne was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973 and (as a foreign member) the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1999.
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