White Holes: A free public lecture and book signing by Carlo Rovelli, Ph.D.

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from New York Times bestselling author and theoretical physicist, Carlo Rovelli, as he guides us in exploring the exotic nature of black holes, their fate, and the science behind it. Join us at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FAU for an evening of learning and discovery.

Reserve your spot now! Admission at the door without reservation depends on space.

Following the lecture will be a book signing, with his book White Holes: Inside the Horizon available on site for purchase. Don't miss this chance to get your book signed by the expert himself!

– Adam Frank, NPR, Book Review of White Holes

Carlo Rovelli is an Italian Theoretical Physicist and New York Times bestselling author of many popular science books, and is a founder of Loop Quantum Gravity.

He currently serves as professor at the Centre de Physique Théorique, Aix-Marseille University, France, as Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and as a core faculty member at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy at Western University, Canada.

He works mainly in the field of quantum gravity, as well as in the history and philosophy of science. His popular science book, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, was originally published in Italian in 2014 and has since been translated into 41 languages and has sold over a million copies worldwide. The audiobook format of his book The Order of Time is narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. In 2019, he was included by Foreign Policy magazine in a list of 100 most influential global thinkers.

Sponsored by the Department of Physics, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University.

Questions? Contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

This free public lecture is part of the Loops ‘24 International Conference on Quantum Gravity, hosted by FAU during the same week.

In the 20th century, two conceptual revolutions changed the way we think of space, time, and reality itself: Quantum Mechanics and Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. Quantum Mechanics explains the physics of atoms and fundamental particles. At its heart are discreteness, fundamental probabilities, and, in some sense, “many worlds”. General Relativity is Einstein’s theory of gravity, space, and time, motivated by consistency with both electromagnetism and relativity of velocity. It tells us that space and time form a single geometric space in which the geometry can be curved, is dynamical, and is responsible for what we see as gravity. It predicts the existence of black holes, the big bang, as well as gravitational waves, all of which have been observationally confirmed. It has inspired consideration of more exotic possibilities such as wormholes and warp drive appearing in science fiction works.

However, in order to understand what happens at the center of black holes and to the matter falling into them, or to understand what happens at the Big Bang itself and whether there was something before the Big Bang, requires a theory which unifies Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity - what is called a theory of Quantum Gravity. The two most popular theories of Quantum Gravity are Loop Quantum Gravity and String Theory. What distinguishes Loop Quantum Gravity are its minimalism and faithfulness not only to the principles of Quantum Mechanics, but also to the conceptual foundations of General Relativity, that gravity is geometry.

The Loops series is the main international series of conferences devoted to the field of Loop Quantum Gravity. It happens approximately every two years, each time hosted by a different academic institution.

Host or Publisher Jonathan Engle