Events Calendar

Einstein's Cosmic Messengers

Admission is free.

Music and science coalesce in Einstein’s Cosmic Messengers, a stunning multimedia concert created by composer Andrea Centazzo and NASA physicist Michele Vallisneri. Following this magnificent journey through the universe, science writer K.C. Cole will moderate a conversation with Centazzo, Vallisneri and USC cosmology professor Elena Pierpaoli.

Performed live by Centazzo, Einstein’s Cosmic Messengers tells the story of gravitational waves—the ripples in the fabric of space and time produced by violent events in the distant universe. Albert Einstein predicted their existence in 1916; but only in the last two decades have we achieved the technology to detect them, enabling LIGO, the U.S. Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, and its siblings, to develop a global network of observatories. LIGO’s measurements will illuminate the fundamental nature of gravity and throw open an entirely new window onto the universe, offering views of previously inaccessible phenomena such as the coalescence of black holes and neutron stars. They will complement the great discoveries of ground- and space-based astronomy and the investigations of missions such as Planck, which observes the radiation originating from the Big Bang itself.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, composer, conductor, percussionist and video artist Andrea Centazzo has performed in more than 1,500 concerts in Europe and the United States. Over the past twenty years, Centazzo has been creating multimedia experiences that combine live music with video images, blending traditional instrumentation with the latest digital technology.

K.C. Cole is a science writer for the Los Angeles Times and a professor at USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. Cole is interested in the natural connections between science, art and politics, and she hosts Categorically Not!, an “irregular” series of events exploring these intersections at Santa Monica Art Studios.

Cosmologist Elena Pierpaoli’s life work is to understand the universe in which we live, including its overall structure, composition, origins and evolution. She has done extensive work on dark matter and galaxy clusters, and is part of the science team for the mission Planck.

A theoretical physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Michele Vallisneri received his PhD in physics from Caltech. He is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the deputy mission scientist for LISA, the planned space-based gravitational-wave observatory.

For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu

Location: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Daria Yudacufski