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Monday 16th December - 06:00 PM GMT

Headline Debate: White Holes: Fact or Fantasy?

Can we go beyond the horizon of the universe?

Event Date: TODAY!

Events Start: 17:20 GMT

Science faces profound mysteries. We've observed black holes, but have no idea what happens inside them. About 27% of the universe consists of dark matter, but we can't see it and its origins remain unknown.

Recently thinkers have posited a new region of space-time that may account for these puzzles. An object that spits matter out, rather than sucking it in. A white hole. But what are they? And how can we know they exist?

Pioneer of 'loop quantum gravity' and international best-selling author Carlo Rovelli joins IAI Live for an evening of debate and discovery, for the first time, to defend his controversial view that white holes exist.



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Timetable:

17:20 GMT - Opening Interview: The creation of white holes arena

18:00 GMT - Headline Debate: White Holes: Fact or Fantasy? arena

19:20 GMT - Solo Talk: White holes are a mathematical fantasy arena

19:15 GMT - Mystery Jet stage

Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Creator of Closer To Truth

Robert Lawrence Kuhn, PhD., is the co-creator, executive producer, writer, and host of Closer To Truth, the PBS/public television series on Cosmos, Life, Mind, and Meaning that presents leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers discussing the fundamental questions of existence. He recently published an extensive article—"A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications"covering the field of consciousness studies in its entirety.

Laura Mersini-Houghton

Leading theoretical physicist

Laura Mersini-Houghton is Professor of Physics at the University of North Carolina. Her work focuses on the origin of the universe and the multiverse, and has been widely covered by the New Scientist, the Discovery Channel and the BBC.

Roger Penrose

Nobel Prize-Winner

Roger Penrose is a world-renowned mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is best known for his work on general relativity and sharing the Wolf Prize for Physics with Stephen Hawking for his work on black holes. Additionally, he is author of The Road to Reality, Cycles of Time and Shadows of the Mind.

Carlo Rovelli

Pioneering physicist

Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist who works mainly in the field of Quantum Gravity. Carlo's popular science book Seven Briefs Lessons on Physics has been translated into 41 languages and sold over one million copies, and he has authored other best-selling books including Reality Is Not What It Seems (2015) and The Order of Time (2018). In 2019 he was named one of the 100 most influential thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine.

 

Rovelli has developed the theory of loop quantum gravity and made significant contributions to the field of relational quantum mechanics. He has also written extensively about the history and philosophy of science.