Oct. 19, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

A talk by Peter Shawhan, University of Maryland

Gravitational Waves were predicted by the General Theory of Relativity one hundred years ago, but have only recently been confirmed by the LIGO Experiment which garnered the Nobel Prize. Come hear a presentation by the University of Maryland’s Professor Peter Shawan, whose research revolves around searching for gravitational wave signals from neutron stars, black holes, collapsing stars, and other extreme astrophysical sources. Dr. Shawan contributed to observing operations and data analysis for the LIGO gravitational wave detectors and he will share his insights on Einstein's visionary theory.

Peter Shawhan did graduate research in Physics at the University of Chicago, studying CP violation in neutral K meson decays, and earned his Ph.D. in 1999. He then spent seven years at Caltech as a Millikan Prize Fellow and Senior Scientist, helping to establish observing operations and data analysis for the LIGO gravitational wave detectors. As a University of Maryland Physics faculty member since 2006, Shawhan's primary research revolves around searching for gravitational wave signals from neutron stars, black holes, collapsing stars, and other extreme astrophysical sources. Detection of these elusive signals, beginning with the first spectacular event in September 2015 from a pair of merging black holes, has confirmed a prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity and is revealing the properties of gravitational-wave sources and enabling tests of the theory of gravity. Other research interests include laboratory tests of gravity and high-energy astrophysics space missions.

Ages: teen to adult. Duration: Approximately one hour.

Our capacity is 58 seats. We set aside 20 seats to accommodate those who arrive without a reservation, so if the show is sold out you can still try to attend by arriving close to 7 p.m. However, although we will do whatever we can to seat all comers, there is no guarantee of admission without a reservation.