Join fellow alumni, friends, and current students for this all-day seminar featuring prominent faculty and alumni speaking on a variety of timely topics. Choose from 14 lectures to personalize your class schedule and enjoy engaging discussions with alumni and friends.

Prof. Vicky Kalogera, E. O. Haven Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Director for CIERA, will be presenting in the afternoon session (1:45 - 2:45pm).

NU Astronomy: Listening to Black Holes

What are black holes? How can we be sure they exist? About a century ago, Einstein developed the now-accepted theory of gravity, known as General Relativity; black holes were predicted by that theory, and 40 years ago astronomers found some indirect evidence for their existence. However, it is now anticipated that direct proof of black holes will be found before the end of this decade: astronomers at Northwestern and the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) are involved in a race for the first direct detection of a new type of wave emission that originates strong from black holes. Dr. Kalogera will discuss this sound-like emission and how it will open a brand-new window onto the extreme universe of black holes and the warped space and time around them.