The Monster in the Math

Date and Time:
Thursday, August 30th, 2018, 7 PM – 7:45 PM
Type:
Class/Workshop
Location:
Black Rock Observatory Theme Camp

Description:

Black holes are literal horizons to the universe, and in their strangeness they also exist far outside the horizon of human intuition. Although black holes haunted the mathematics of gravitational theory for centuries before their discovery, few believed that such bizarreness could exist in reality. The fact of their existence (in countless multitudes!) demonstrates that the mathematics of physical theory can be more trustworthy than intuition.

Matt O'Dowd (astrophysicist and host of PBS Space Time) tells the tale of the black hole, and explores our incredible ability (through science) to discover aspects of reality utterly beyond observation or intuition.