We live in a Universe that is, in parts, distinctly warped.
It’s a feature that has intrigued Prof Kip Thorne for much of his stellar career.
From violent black holes to gravitational waves that wobble through the Universe and the potential of wormholes as plunging “shortcuts” through space-time, Thorne’s insights have enlightened scientists, artists and the general public.
The Nobel laureate is to deliver the Royal Irish Academy 2025 Hamilton Lecture, about how he fell in love with objects and phenomena from the warped side.
A black hole is the quintessential example of warped space-time, says Thorne, whose research at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has helped to describe many features of these strange spaces.
“The surface of the black hole is called the horizon, and if you fall through it, you can never get out,” he says. “As you approach the horizon, time is warped, it slows compared to time far away, then inside the horizon, time flows towards the centre.”
As black holes spin, they drag space into a whirling, tornado-like motion around themselves, and tentacle-like extensions reach out, grabbing and tearing things apart by squeezing and stretching them.
“It’s quite amazing that these phenomena are made
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