Interstellar Science: Einstein, Wormholes and Gravity with Claudia de Rham
As with all episodes of this podcast there are spoilers ahead! Earlier this year I approached a brilliant theoretical physicist about whether she would like to come on the podcast to speak about her favourite science fiction film but instead she wanted to speak to me about the science of the film Interstellar (2014). I apologise in advance for my own level of understanding of physics which is a mix of decades old lessons in school, a tiny handful of pop science books and a number of science fiction films. Interstellar was released ten years ago in November 2014. Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne was the main consultant to director Christopher Nolan on the science of the film which is packed with scientifically accurate scenarios (and a few scientifically fantastical ones too). The Guest Claudia de Rham is a theoretical physicist at Imperial College, London. Her expertise lies at the interface between Quantum Field Theory, Gravity, Gravitational Waves, Cosmology, Particle Physics, Numerical Simulations and Theoretical Mathematical Physics. She is also the author of the book The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity. Chapters00:00 Introduction to the show and guest01:20 Claudia’s first viewing: Science, emotion and the world you leave behind. 03:25 A quick overview of the premise04:37 Wormholes: folding paper and spacetime17:17 Kip Thorne and gravitational anomalies11:14 Time dilation and black holes15:14 Time is relative, gravity is multi-dimensional and the transition to science fiction16:49 Going beyond Einstein’s theory of general relativity to the holy grail of science19:34 Differences in singularities and being pulled apart by black holes21:47 The tesseract and extra dimensions24:50 Gravity as communicator29:38 Gravity vs light33:20 Direct detection of gravitational waves, interferometers and LISA* in space35:06 Observation of the shadows of black holes36:50 Claudia’s love of gravity Next Episode:The next film we will be looking at is Creature from the Black Lagoon from 1954!You can check JustWatch for where you can find the film in your region. It is available to rent or buy in various places including Apple TV. Sequels Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us are trickier to track down though there are some online streaming services. The Shape of Water (2017) which is heavily inspired by the original film is available to rent or buy in various places and is also available for those who have a Disney+ subscription. * The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.