The general relativistic theory of thin accretion disks around black holes,Īnd using this theory he deduced that with a doubling of its mass by suchĪccretion a black hole will be spun up to 0.998 of the maximum spin allowedīy general relativity, but never any farther this is probably With Igor Novikov and Don Page, he developed Supergiant stars with neutron-star cores ("Thorne-Zytkow Objects"). With Anna Zytkow, Thorne predicted the existence of red Of gravity - foundations on which Will and others then built. Theoretical interpretation of experimental tests of relativistic theories With Clifford Will and others of his students, he laid foundations for the Technique now implemented in gravitational wave detection, in quantum optics, Measurements of the quadrature amplitudes of harmonic oscillators - a Invented the back-action-evasion approach to quantum nondemolition In 2015, when gravitational waves from colliding black holes were discovered, it was a joint culmination of LIGO's experimental work, and the SXS, and other, computer simulations of the collisions. The primary goal of this Cornell/Caltech SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project was to learn about "storms" in the fabric of spacetime produced by black-hole collisions, and the gravitational waves produced by those storms, as input for LIGO's gravitational wave searches and data analysis. In the early 2000s, Thorne left day-to-day involvement in LIGO, so as to initiate, with Lee Lindblom, a Caltech effort to simulate on supercomuters collisions of black holes - as an expansion of Saul Teukolsky's mature similar effort at Cornell. He tried to lead LIGO, together with Weiss and Drever, in its earliest years (1984-87), then eagerly turned leadership over to a succession of outstanding directors: Robbie Vogt, then Barry Barish, Jay Marx, and David Reitze.įrom the 1980s onward, Thorne and his research group provided theoretical support for LIGO, including identifying gravitational wave sources that LIGO should target, laying foundations for data analysis techniques by which the waves are sought and information is extracted from the waves, designing the baffles to control scattered light in the LIGO beam tubes, developing insights into other noise sources and their control, and - in collaboration with Braginsky's Moscow research group - inventing and analyzing quantum-nondemolition designs for advanced gravitational-wave detectors. In 1984, with Weiss and Drever, he founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Project (LIGO). From the mid 1970s through the 1980s, he worked closely with Vladimir Braginsky (Moscow), Ronald Drever (Glasgow/Caltech) and Rainer Weiss (MIT) on developing technical ideas and plans for gravitational wave detection. In the early 1970s, he and his students began formulating a vision for gravitational wave astronomy: the frequency bands in which waves might be detected, the sources in those bands, and the information that could be extracted from their waves. With emphasis on relativistic stars, black holes and gravitational waves.įrom the late 1960s through the early 1980s, Thorne and his research group developed insights into the theory of gravitational waves and gravitational radiation reaction, and developed techniques for computing the generation of gravitational waves. Thorne's research has focused on gravitational physics and astrophysics, In June 2009, Thorne retired from his Feynman Professorship (becoming the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus) in order to ramp up a new career in writing, collaborations at the interface between science and the arts (including the movie Interstellar), and continued scientific research. The Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991. Professor in 1967, was promoted to Professor of Theoretical Physics Of postdoctoral study, Thorne returned to Caltech as an Associate Born in Logan Utah in 1940, Kip Thorne received his B.S.
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