18 January 2013 • Friday
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Kip Thorne is a theoretical physicist, best known for his prolific contributions in gravitation physics and astrophysics and for having trained a generation of prominent scientists. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, and one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Since becoming emeritus in 2009, Kip has continued his relativity research and is working on a Hollywood movie based on it. He earned a B.S. from Caltech (1962) and his Ph.D. from Princeton (1965). Thereafter, he returned to Caltech as a professor and has remained since. Kip’s research focuses on theoretical gravitational physics and astrophysics, with emphasis on black holes and gravitational waves. In 1992, he co-founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). He has received many national and international awards in science, and has been honored several times for his writing.