Dean of the College Presents
Black Holes: A Brief Tour of their Cosmic Genesis, Quantum Hearts, and Entropic Secrets
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Hegeman 204A
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
by Professor Hal Haggard
We are at an incredible scientific turning point. In the last sixty years black holes have gone from obscure, borderline science fiction to central objects in the quest to better understand the nature of gravity. These dense, dark concentrations of matter were once only theorized, but in the last few years a series of experiments have measured many features of black holes. One of the most massive black holes ever measured, weighing in at 17 billion times the mass of our sun, was found two years ago. Just last year a single nearly massless particle emitted from a blazing black hole was caught in a kilometer cube of ice in Antarctica. Most excitingly, three years ago ripples of space and time were recorded for the first time in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory exposing the dance and final cataclysmic collision of two black holes. Professor Haggard will give a brief tour of black holes throughout the cosmos and explain his research on how black holes could finally tell us what relates quantum mechanics, heat, space and time. Absolutely no background will be assumed and, because black holes puzzle us all, a third of the seminar will be devoted to questions.Please join us for a reception prior to this event at 6:00 pm in the Faculty Commons Room.
For more information, call 845-758-7421, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
Location: Hegeman 204A