Astrophysicist, writer, and Guggenheim Fellow, Janna Levin, has contributed to an understanding of black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. She is the author of the popular-science book, How the Universe Got Its Spots and a novel, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, which won the PEN/Bingham prize.

Talk Abstract: Insurmountable limits can inspire creative surges in science as well as art. The limit of light's speed led directly to the discovery of the big bang and black holes and defines our view of the past and the future. Limits can bring out our best, most agile selves to inspire great gestures of creativity, moments of discovery that change us forever.

Doors open at 7:45 pm

This is a free public lecture associated with the DPF2015 conference which is the biannual meeting of the American Physics Society Division of Particle and Fields which the U-M Physics Department is hosting.