Monthly Meeting

Einstein’s Symphony: Deciphering the Music of Black Holes and Neutron Stars

The 2015 discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO confirmed Einstein’s prediction made 100 years earlier (almost to the day) and inaugurated a new era in astrophysics. Since then, hundreds of detections have revealed details of some of the most extreme events in the universe and the progenitor phenomena underlying them. Although still emerging, gravitational-wave astronomy is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful tools in modern astrophysics. Unlocking the full potential of this new messenger promises deeper insight into the lives and deaths of massive stars, the formation of compact objects, tests of general relativity, cosmology, and the astrophysical origins of the heavy elements.

The presentation will examine the nature of gravitational waves, the methods used to detect them, and how such observations – combined with high-energy transients and associated compact objects – are reshaping our understanding of black holes, neutron stars, and the evolution of massive stars.

Dr. Michael Zevin

The speaker is Dr. Michael Zevin, an astrophysicist at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium and a CIERA Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University. His research includes the study of gravitational waves emanating from extreme systems in the universe including black hole mergers and neutron stars. He is part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which made the first observation of gravitational waves in September 2015. Dr. Zevin is active in science education, public outreach and engaging the general public in citizen science initiatives. 

Dr. Zevin received his Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from Northwestern University.  He was a NASA Hubble Fellow at the University of Chicago and received numerous awards including the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work on LIGO.

This event is open to the public and free of charge.