An “Interstellar” Encounter: Kip Thorne, boundary-busting genius and advisor on the movie hit, will give free talk He'll explore the intersection of art and science on Thursday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m.

Noted astrophysicist Kip Thorne, Ph.D. knows a lot about the weird phenomena of time and space: black holes, wormholes, time travel and more. As one of the world’s leading experts on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Dr. Thorne has collaborated with many of the top names in science, including Stephen Hawking, and served as science advisor and executive producer on the recent blockbuster movie “Interstellar.” His multi-faceted interests in art, science and the universe know no bounds – and it is precisely this intersection of big ideas that Dr. Thorne will discuss in a free talk at Chapman University on Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m. in Musco Center for the Arts.

Admission is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required for entry and can be obtained online at www.muscocenter.org or by calling 844-OC-MUSCO (844-626-8726).

In this lecture, Dr. Thorne will describe his remarkable experiences conveying the essence of science to the public through creative collaborations with artists, musicians and filmmakers – including his work on Christopher Nolan’s brainy science-fiction thriller “Interstellar,” starring Matthew McConaughey and Ann Hathaway, with its exploration of the odd interstices of time, space and humanity.

He’ll also talk about his current and upcoming projects, including his partnership with Chapman University assistant art professor Lia Halloran on an upcoming book that describes “the warped side of the universe” through prose and poetry by Thorne and paintings by Halloran; and his live multimedia performances explaining the recent discovery of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, collaborating with Oscar-winning visual effects guru Paul Franklin and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Kip Thorne is the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech).  In addition to his prolific publications in the science press and in leading scientific journals, his books for the popular readership include “Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy” and “The Science of ‘Interstellar.’” His research has focused on Einstein’s relativity theory and astrophysics, with emphasis on stars, black holes, and especially gravitational waves. He was co-founder (with R. Weiss and R.W.P. Drever) of the LIGO Project, which made the breakthrough discovery of gravitational waves arriving at Earth from the distant universe on September 14, 2015, thereby opening up a whole new way to explore the universe. His current research is on the nonlinear dynamics of curved space-time and he is co-author, with Roger Blandford, of the textbook “Modern Classical Physics” (to be published in late 2016).

Dr. Thorne is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Albert Einstein Medal, UNESCO’s Niels Bohr Gold Medal, California Scientist of the Year, and the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award for Mass Media.