Black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves: from a whisper to a symphony

Date: 2 September 2025, 18:00 - 19:00
Cost: Free
Venue: Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Department of Physics, University of Oxford
Address: Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Event page: https://www.ox.ac.uk/event/black-holes-neutron-stars-and-gravitational-waves-whisper-symphony

Scientists first detected gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein—on 14 September 2015, when two black holes collided and sent out a faint “whisper.” Marking the tenth anniversary of that landmark moment, Professor Patrick Brady will recount how gravitational-wave astronomy has evolved from a bold experiment into a thriving field, revealing a symphony of signals from merging black holes and neutron stars.

Along the way, you’ll learn how gravitational waves are generated, what unfolds at a black hole’s event horizon, why neutron-star collisions forge most of the Universe’s gold, and what mysteries the next generation of detectors may soon solve.