Everything about Kip Thorne totally explained
Kip Stephen Thorne (born
June 1,
1940) is an
American theoretical physicist, known for his prolific contributions in
gravitation physics and
astrophysics and for having trained a generation of scientists. A longtime friend and colleague of
Stephen Hawking and
Carl Sagan, he's the current
Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at
Caltech and one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical implications of
Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Biography
Thorne was born in
Logan, Utah, the son of
Utah State University professors D. Wynne Thorne and Alison C. Thorne, a
soil chemist and an
economist, respectively. Raised in an academic environment, two of his four siblings are also professors. He became interested in
science at the age of eight, after attending a lecture about the
solar system. Thorne and his mother then worked out calculations for their own model of the solar system.
Thorne rapidly excelled at academics early in life, becoming one of the youngest full professors in the history of the
California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. from Caltech in
1962, and
Ph.D. from
Princeton University in
1965. He wrote his Ph.D.
thesis,
Geometrodynamics of Cylindrical Systems, under the supervision of relativist
John Wheeler. Thorne returned to Caltech as an associate professor in 1967 and became a professor of theoretical physics in 1970, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in 1981, and the
Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991, a post he currently holds.
Throughout the years, Thorne has served as a mentor and thesis advisor for many leading theorists who now work on observational, experimental, or astrophysical aspects of general relativity. Approximately 50 physicists have received Ph.D.s at Caltech under Thorne's personal mentorship.
Thorne is known for his ability to convey the excitement and significance of discoveries in gravitation and astrophysics to both professional and lay audiences. In 1999, Thorne made some speculations on what the
21st century will find as the answers to the following questions:
- Is there a "dark side of the universe" populated by objects such as black holes?
- Can we observe the birth of the universe and its dark side using radiation made from space-time warpage, or so-called "gravitational waves"?
- Will 21st century technology reveal quantum behavior in the realm of human-size objects?
His presentations on subjects such as
black holes,
gravitational radiation,
relativity,
time travel, and
wormholes have been included in PBS shows in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom on the BBC.
Thorne possesses a kindly demeanor and is modest, insisting on being addressed by his first name. He is also lighthearted and has made bets with various colleagues on when certain scientific discoveries will be made. Most of all, Thorne is regarded for his meticulous attention to detail and abundant energy.
Thorne married Linda Jean Peterson in 1960, with whom he'd children Kares Anne and Bret Carter, an architect. He divorced Peterson in 1970 and married his second wife, Carolee Joyce Winstein, professor of
biokinesiology and physical therapy at
USC, in 1984.
Research
Thorne's research has principally focused on
relativistic astrophysics and
gravitation physics, with emphasis on
relativistic stars,
black holes and especially
gravitational waves. He is perhaps best known to the public for his controversial theory that
wormholes can conceivably be used for
time travel. However, Thorne's scientific contributions, which center on the general nature of
space,
time, and
gravity, span the full range of topics in
general relativity.
Gravity waves and LIGO
Among a handful of physicists, Thorne is considered one of the world’s authorities on
gravitational waves. In part, his work has dealt with the prediction of gravity-wave strengths and their temporal signatures as observed on Earth. These “signatures” are of great relevance to
LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory), a multi-institution gravity-wave experiment for which Thorne has been a leading proponent — in
1984, he cofounded the LIGO Project (the largest project ever funded by the
NSF) to discern and measure any fluctuations between two or more 'static' points; such fluctuations would be evidence of
gravitational waves, as calculations describe. A significant aspect of his research is developing the
mathematics necessary to analyze these objects.
(External Link
) Thorne also carries out
engineering design analyses for features of the LIGO that can't be developed on the basis of
experiment and he gives advice on
data analysis algorithms by which the waves will be sought. He has provided theoretical support for LIGO, including identifying gravitational wave sources that LIGO should target, designing the baffles to control
scattered light in the LIGO beam tubes, and — in collaboration with Vladimir Braginsky's (Moscow Russia) research group — inventing
quantum-nondemolition designs for advanced
gravity-wave detectors and ways to reduce the most serious kind of
noise in advanced detectors:
thermoelastic noise. With Carlton M. Caves, Thorne invented the back-action-evasion approach to
quantum nondemolition measurements of the
quadrature amplitudes of
harmonic oscillators — a technique applicable both in
gravitational wave detection and
quantum optics.
Black hole cosmology
Thorne has made prolific contributions to
black hole cosmology. Thorne proposed his
Hoop Conjecture that cast aside the thought of a
naked singularity. The Hoop Conjecture describes an imploding star turning into a black hole when the critical circumference of the designed hoop can be placed around it and set into rotation.
(External Link) That is, any object of mass M around which a hoop of circumference
can be spun must be a black hole. As a tool to be used in both enterprises, astrophysics and theoretical physics, Thorne has developed an unusual approach, called the "
Membrane Paradigm", to the theory of black holes and used it to clarify the "Blandford-Znajek" mechanism by which black holes may power some
quasars and
active galactic nuclei. Thorne has investigated the
quantum statistical mechanical origin of the
entropy of a black hole and the entropy of a cosmological horizon in an
inflationary model of the universe. With Wojciech Zurek he showed that the entropy of a black hole of known
mass,
angular momentum, and
electric charge is the
logarithm of the number of ways that the hole could have been made. With Igor Novikov and Don Page he developed the general relativistic theory of thin
accretion disks around black holes, and using this theory he deduced that with a doubling of its mass by such
accretion a black hole will be spun up to 0.998 of the maximum
spin allowed by general relativity, but never any farther; this is probably the maximum black-hole spin allowed in Nature. He, along with his mentor
John Wheeler, additionally proved that it was impossible for cylindrical
magnetic field lines to
implode. Both
Hawking and Thorne have theorized that a
singularity exists in the interior of a black hole.
Wormholes and time travel
Thorne was one of the first people to conduct scientific research on whether the laws of physics permit space and time to be
multiply connected (can there exist classical,
traversable wormholes and "
time machines"?). With Sung-Won Kim, Thorne identified a universal physical mechanism (the explosive growth of
vacuum polarization of
quantum fields), that may always prevent spacetime from developing
closed timelike curves (for example, prevent "backward time travel"
). With Mike Morris and Ulvi Yurtsever he showed that traversable
Lorentzian wormholes can exist in the structure of
spacetime only if they're threaded by quantum fields in
quantum states that violate the
averaged null energy condition (for example have negative renormalized energy spread over a sufficiently large region). This has triggered research to explore the ability of quantum fields to possess such extended
negative energy. Recent calculations by Thorne indicate that simple masses passing through traversable wormholes could never engender
paradoxes — there are
no initial conditions that lead to paradox once time travel is introduced. If his results can be generalised, they'd suggest that none of the supposed paradoxes formulated in time travel stories can actually be formulated at a precise physical level: that is, that
any situation in a time travel story turns out to permit
many consistent solutions.
Relativistic stars, multipoles, & other endeavors
With Anna Żytkow, Thorne predicted the existence of
red supergiant stars with
neutron-star cores (
Thorne-Żytkow objects). Most importantly, he laid the foundations for the theory of
pulsations of relativistic stars and the
gravitational radiation they emit. With
James Hartle, Thorne derived from general relativity the laws of motion and precession of black holes and other relativistic bodies, including the influence of the coupling of their
multipole moments to the spacetime curvature of nearby objects. Thorne has also theoretically predicted the existence of universally antigravitating "
exotic matter" — the element needed to accelerate the expansion rate of the universe, keep traversable wormhole "Star Gates" open and keep
timelike geodesic free float "
warp drives" working. With Clifford Will and others of his students, he laid foundations for the theoretical interpretation of experimental
tests of relativistic theories of gravity — foundations on which Will and others then built. Thorne is currently interested in the origin of classical space and time from the
quantum foam of
quantum gravity theory.
Publications
Thorne has written and edited books on topics in
gravitational theory and
high-energy astrophysics. In 1973, he co-authored the classic textbook
Gravitation with
Charles Misner and
John Wheeler; from which most of the present generation of scientists have learned general relativity theory. In
1994, he published
Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, a landmark book for non-scientists for which he received numerous awards. This book has been published in six languages, and editions in Chinese, Italian, Czech, and Polish are in press.
Thorne's work has appeared in magazines and encyclopedias such as:
Scientific American,
McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology, and
Collier's Encyclopedia among many others.
Thorne has published more than 150 articles in scholarly journals.
Some recent references
Thorne, K. S., in 300 Years of Gravitation, (Eds.) S. W. Hawking and W. Israel, 1987, (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press), Gravitational Radiation.
Thorne, K. S., Price, R. H. and Macdonald, D. M., Black Holes, The Membrane Paradigm, 1986, (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press).
Friedman, J., Morris, M. S., Novikov, I. D., Echeverria, F., Klinkhammer, G., Thorne, K. S. and Yurtsever, U., Physical Review D., 1990, (in press), Cauchy Problem in Spacetimes with Closed Timelike Curves.
Honors and awards
Thorne has been elected to:
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the National Academy of Sciences,
the Russian Academy of Sciences, and
the American Philosophical Society.
He has been recognized by numerous awards including:
the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in Physics and Astronomy,
the Phi Beta Kappa Science Writing Award,
the American Physical Society's Lilienfeld Prize,
the German Astronomical Society's Karl Schwarzschild Medal,
the Robinson Prize in Cosmology from the University of Newcastle, England,
the 's Common Wealth Awards for Science and Invention, and
the California Science Center's California Scientist of the Year Award (2003).
He has been a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Danforth Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and Fulbright Fellow. He has also received the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from Claremont Graduate University.
Thorne has served on:
the International Committee on General Relativity and Gravitation,
the Committee on US-USSR Cooperation in Physics, and
the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board, which has advised NASA and Congress on space science policy.
Films
Carl Sagan once asked Thorne to examine the time travel section of the manuscript for Contact. Thorne immediately dismissed Sagan's hypothesis; however, he later had an epiphany — wormholes may be used as time machines. His subsequent work, Wormholes, Time Machines and the Weak Energy Condition, along with other papers, has made him popular with science fiction fans. He didn't care that it was highly speculative work, putting as much energy into it as other subjects.
In June 2006, Steven Spielberg announced he'd direct a film about "a group of explorers who travel through a worm hole and into another dimension", from a treatment by Kip Thorne and producer Lynda Obst. In January 2007, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan met with the studio to discuss adapting Obst and Thorne's treatment into a narrative screenplay. The screenwriter suggested the addition of a "time element" to the treatment's basic idea, which was welcomed by Obst and Thorne. The following July, Kip Thorne said there was a push by people for him to portray himself in the film Interstellar.
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