2018 Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecture: The ability to detect gravitational waves opens a completely new field in astronomy and astrophysics, letting us tackle a host of questions: How do binary black holes form? How are they linked to massive stars? Do neutron star collisions produce most of the gold in the Universe? What are the biggest and smallest black holes? What is the internal structure of a neutron star? This lecture will review progress in the field and explore the how new and improved detectors will change our understanding of the violent Universe.

SPEAKER

Dr Paul Groot is a Professor of Astronomy at Radboud University, in the Netherlands, and his research focuses on compact binary systems, transients in the Universe, and gravitational wave astrophysics. He gained his PhD in 1999 at the University of Amsterdam and worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before returning to the Netherlands. He is a member of the Virgo Collaboration and a co-recipient of the 2002 EU Descartes Prize, the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the 2016 Gruber Prize in Cosmology.

Sponsored by the Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecture Trust.

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Casual flat rate parking at the Owen G. Glen Building (12 Grafton Road, Auckland CBD): $6 after 5pm

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Judith Poland, Events Coordinator (j.poland@auckland.ac.nz)

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