For us to spend basically a half-century since the three of us started working in this field, to have it actually be pulled off successfully in the manner we dreamed – it was really remarkable and wonderful, i'm forever grateful to the team that got it done.

Kip Thorne

Categorized in : Science

Gravitational waves will bring us exquisitely accurate maps of black holes - maps of their space-time. Those maps will make it crystal clear whether or not what were dealing with are black holes as described by general relativity.

maps black space

The right answer is seldom as important as the right question. by Kip Thorne

The right answer is seldom as important as the right question.

right-answers important answers

A black hole really is an object with very rich structure, just like Earth has a rich structure of mountains, valleys, oceans, and so forth. Its warped space whirls around the central singularity like air in a tornado.

ocean space air

Closed timelike curve is the jargon for time travel. It means you go out, come back and meet yourself in the past.

curves mean past

Whether you can go back in time is held in the grip of the law of quantum gravity. We are several decades away from a definitive understanding, 20 or 30 years, but it could be sooner than that.

understanding law years

When gravitational waves reach the earth, the waves stretch and squeeze space. This is a tiny stretch and squeeze. Far too small to detect with ordinary human senses.

space earth ordinary

If you have a wormhole, then you can turn them into time machines... by Kip Thorne

If you have a wormhole, then you can turn them into time machines for going backward in time.

wormholes time-machine machines

When Galileo first trained his optic telescope on the heavens and opened up modern optical astronomy, that was the first of the electromagnetic windows out of the universe: light.

up astronomy universe light

Sending people into space is very important culturally. That's really the justification. You cannot rationally justify it on the basis of the science and technology we get out of it.

you technology science people

I'm a real klutz computationally, so Mathematica is just ideal fo... by Kip Thorne

I'm a real klutz computationally, so Mathematica is just ideal for me.

ideal just me real

We see no objects in our universe that could become wormholes as... by Kip Thorne

We see no objects in our universe that could become wormholes as they age.

become see universe age

I can enjoy 'Harry Potter' and 'Star Trek,' but I really apprecia... by Kip Thorne

I can enjoy 'Harry Potter' and 'Star Trek,' but I really appreciate hard science fiction.

enjoy appreciate i-can science

The essential point is that, although coordinates are a powerful, and sometimes essential, tool in many calculations, the fundamental laws of physics can be expressed without the aid of coordinates; and, indeed, their coordinate-free expressions are generally elegant and exceedingly powerful.

without physics powerful sometimes

Each black hole spins on its axis like the Earth spins. That spin creates two vortexes of twisting space, somewhat like vortexes in a bathtub or a whirlpool.

like black space earth

We're going to need a definitive quantum theory of gravity, which is part of a grand unified theory - it's the main missing piece.

going need gravity missing

We have to have a combination of general relativity that describes the warping of space and time, and quantum physics, which describes the uncertainties in that warping and how they change.

physics space change time

The human race has a yearning to explore. That's part of our biol... by Kip Thorne

The human race has a yearning to explore. That's part of our biological and psychological makeup.

explore human makeup race

A big misconception is that a black hole is made of matter that has just been compacted to a very small size. That's not true. A black hole is made from warped space and time.

black space matter time

As early as I can remember, I wanted to be a snowplow driver. When you grow up in the Rocky Mountains, like I did, you see the snow drifts piled up six feet high, and you're two feet, so it's impressive.

mountains grow you remember

I became interested in this question of whether you can build wormholes for interstellar travel. I realized that if you had a wormhole, the theory of general relativity by itself would permit you to go backward in time.

go you time travel