Black Holes and the Structure of Spacetime
- Speaker
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Juan Maldacena, Ph.D.Carl P. Feinberg Professor Institute for Advanced Study, School of Natural Sciences, Princeton University
Presidential Lectures are free public colloquia centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite those interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.
Black holes are astronomical objects so dense and massive that not even light can escape their intense gravitational pull. The existence of the extreme objects spawns many theoretical paradoxes, the resolution of which requires physicists to rethink their conception of space and time.
In this lecture, Juan Maldacena will discuss the fascinating and surprising history of black holes. He will explain how black holes have gone from seemingly impossible objects to a powerful tool for establishing new perspectives on the quantum nature of spacetime. He will discuss how quantum mechanics control the surface boundary and interior of black holes, leading to the possibility of incredible physics such as wormholes.
About the Speaker
Maldacena is the Carl P. Feinberg Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1968. After studying as an undergraduate in Argentina, he moved to the United States and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He was then a professor at Harvard University before joining the Institute for Advanced Study in 2001. His research interests include quantum field theory, quantum gravity and string theory and currently studies relationships between quantum systems and gravity. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Albert Eisenstein Medal, the Lorentz Medal and the Dirac Prize and Medal.