Gravitational-Wave Astronomy: Exploring the dark side of the Universe

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 13th July 2023 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

Gravitational-wave astronomy is a relatively new field of astronomy that focuses on the detection and study of gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects, such as black holes and neutron stars. They were first predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity but were not directly detected until 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States.

 

Since then, other gravitational-wave detectors, including the Virgo detector in Italy and the KAGRA detector in Japan, have also detected gravitational waves. These detections have opened up a new way to study the universe and explore the dark side of the cosmos.

 

Join the meeting online HERE if you cant attend in person

Speaker: Prof. Nils Andersson

Nils Andersson is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Southampton. He is an expert on Einstein's relativity and a wide range of related problems in astrophysics. He served as President of the International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation 2019-22. Amongst scientists he is well known for his monograph Gravitational-Wave Astronomy: Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe, while the younger public may know him better as award-winning author of a number of children’s books.