Dr Marco Bruni - 100 years of General Relativity: from mercury precession and bending of light to blackholes and gravitational waves

In this talk he will summarise the developments of the applications in astrophysics and cosmology of Einstein theory of gravity, General Relativity, presented in 1915. Einstein was successful in explaining the known precession of Mercury’s perihelion, and his theory predicted bending of light, which was observed in 1919. The blackhole concept came later, and we now have astronomical proofs of the existence of blackholes, from few solar masses to the supermassive blackholes at the centre of many galaxies. General relativity is at the base of cosmology, the science of the universe as a whole. Gravitational waves are the most elusive prediction of Einstein theory: Dr Marco will explain how they work and illustrate the current experiments that should detect them in the near future.

Dr Marco Bruni Reader in Cosmology and Gravitation University of Portsmouth Link to full biography here: http://www.icg.port.ac.uk/author/brunim/

The Vectis Astronomical Society meets on the 4th Friday of every month, except for December. This event is open for non-members to attend. The speakers come from all over the country and give a presentation for around 45 mins. We then stop for a break with tea and biscuits, which gives an opportunity to mingle and chat.

The second half of the evening sees a presentation by one of our regular members showing us what to we could see in the sky over the coming month. This always involves some great pictures projected onto the large screen. Entry to the event is free of charge, although as we run as a charity, donations are always welcome.

Newsletters are available at the entrance for a suggested donation of £2.00

Please see our website for contact and membership details.