Meeting Information

Why Do Black Holes Shine?

March 8, 2017
The American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Speaker: Christopher Reynolds, University of Maryland, College Park

Topic: Why Do Black Holes Shine?

Time and Location: 1:00 p.m., with Q&A to follow; in a 1st floor conference room at the American Center for Physics (www.acp.org), 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD - off River Rd., between Kenilworth Ave. and Paint Branch Parkway.

Abstract: Black holes have a voracious appetite, consuming even light rays that happen to pass too close. It is thus ironic and (initially) surprising that black holes are the driving source for some of the most luminous and energetic phenomena in the Universe! In this talk, I shall discuss why this is the case, and how a black hole can actually form the heart of an extremely efficient "engine" for turning mass into visible light.

Biography: Chris Reynolds is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park where he heads a research group focused on the physics and astrophysics of black holes. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1996, after which he moved to the University of Colorado for his postdoctoral work. He joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 2001. During that time, Chris has also served as Director of the Joint Space Science Institute (a UMD/NASA-Goddard partnership) and is currently the Chair of the American Astronomical Society's High Energy Astrophysics Division.