Gresham College:
Black Holes and Bangs

Space itself is wobbly. We exist on a choppy sea, its surface roiled by disturbances caused by the movements of black holes hundreds of millions of light-years away. The recent detection of these ‘gravitational waves’ by a completely novel type of observatory is a story of scientific persistence and precision engineering, resulting in a completely new way of looking at the cosmos. The lecture highlights results from the last year of observations, discuss the nature of black holes – the most mysterious of astronomical objects – and explain how the gold in your jewellery was made.

Chris Lintott is Gresham* Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford. He also a presenter of the BBC’s long-running Sky at Night programme, and the popular Dog Stars podcast.

His research ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to using machine learning to find the most unusual things in the Universe, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids.

He is also Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for more than two million online volunteers to contribute to scientific research.

*Each year, Gresham College provides over one hundred free, academic lectures, across the Arts & Sciences, given by international experts and leading academics. Find out more.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price:

Standard Free

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.