Einstein Lectures
The Einstein Lectures series was initiated in 2015 as part of the centenary celebration of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Schools, colleges and other organizations can request to organize a lecture anywhere in India. Selected partner organizations will work with the ICTS in selecting an appropriate speaker depending on the date and venue of the lecture, and the nature of the audience. Einstein lectures cover a wide spectrum of topics in physics and related areas. Speakers range from early-career scientists to international luminaries. ICTS will support the travel and honorarium for the speaker. Partner organizations are expected to take care of the local organization.
Contact: einstein . lectures @ icts . res . in
Past Lectures
Albert Einstein and the zombie stars: Exploring the extremes of physics with gravitational waves
Nils Andersson (University of Southampton, UK)
28 July 2017, 16:00 to 18:00
St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), 36 Lalbagh Road, Bangalore 27
A neutron star is born when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses under its own weight. These “zombie” stars involve aspects of physics that cannot be tested in laboratories on Earth. We have to figure out their properties from astrophysical observations. Neutron stars are of...more
Black Holes and the Reversibility of Time
Suvrat Raju (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru)
12 April 2017, 18:00 to 19:00
National College, Bengaluru
A central tenet of physics is that time evolution is reversible. Given the complete state of a system at any point of time, one can predict both its future and its past. This is true of the simple ballistics problems one studies in school, and of the very complicated systems that physicists study...more
Undreamt by Einstein: The discovery of gravitational waves
Parameswaran Ajith (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru)
28 February 2017, 09:30 to 11:30
T K M College of Engineering, Kollam, Kerala
In 2016, the LIGO-Virgo scientific collaborations announced the detection of two gravitational wave signals by the Advanced LIGO observatories. The existence of these elusive ripples in the spacetime was predicted by Albert Einstein a hundred years ago. At times, even Einstein doubted the existence...more
LIGO detectors observe the first Binary Black Hole Merger
Archana Pai (Indian Institute for Science, Education and Research, Trivandrum)
17 February 2017, 13:00 to 15:00
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology (RIT), Kottayam, Kerala
Let us listen to the symphony of our Universe! On September 14, 2015, two LIGO detectors located in Livingston, Lousiana and Hanford, Washington observed gravitational waves from a black hole binary merger event located at 1.33 billion light years away in a distant galaxy. This is the first direct...more
The End of Space-time and Beyond
Spenta R. Wadia (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru)
02 December 2016, 16:00 to 18:00
Christ University, Hosur Road, Bangalore 29
The two major revolutions of 20th Century physics are Einstein’s General Relativity which is a theory of the gravitational force and Quantum Mechanics which deals with sub-atomic phenomenon. Both are successful theories in their domains of application. With the direct observation of gravitational...more
Black Holes, Waves of Gravity, and other Warped Ideas of Dr. Einstein
Clifford M Will (University of Florida, Gainesville, USA and Institute of Astrophysics, Paris, France)
29 July 2016, 16:00 to 17:00
St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), Bangalore
Einstein's theories of relativity have had a major impact on everything from popular culture to everyday life to basic science. Songs, plays and movies proclaim Einstein as the symbol of genius, while users of GPS navigation devices unknowingly take account of Einstein's relativistic warpage of...more
When LIGO heard the two black holes talking
Chandrakant Mishra (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences)
01 April 2016, 19:00 to 20:00
BITS - Hyderabad
In the year 1916, Albert Einstein theoretically showed that his equations (which describe the very nature of gravity) admit wave-like solutions. Gravitational waves, as Einstein first described, are the ripples of the space-time that are generated if the gravitational field of an object changes:...more
Undreamt by Einstein: Discovery of gravitational waves
Parameswaran Ajith (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences)
19 February 2016, 10:00 to 11:00
Providence Women's College, Calicut, Kerala
On 2016 February 11, two major international scientific collaborations jointly announced the discovery of gravitational waves, the elusive ripples in the space-time predicted by Albert Einstein exactly a hundred years ago. At times, even Einstein doubted the existence of gravitational waves in...more
Gravitational-wave astronomy: A new window to the Universe
Parameswaran Ajith (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences)
18 February 2016, 14:30 to 15:30
Regional Science Center and Planetarium, Calicut
The recent observation of gravitational waves has opened up a unique astronomical window to the Universe. Gravitational-wave observations will complement, corroborate and perhaps challenge our understanding of the Universe gained from other windows of astronomy. This lecture will discuss the recent...more
Einstein's General Relativity: From Insight to Inspiration
Bala Iyer (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences)
03 February 2016, 11:00 to 12:00
Sacred Heart College, Chalakudi, Kerala
Newtonian mechanics and Gravitation were very successful theories for more than two centuries until the creation by Einstein of Special Relativity in 1905 and General Relativity in 1915. The lecture highlights the physical basis underlying these remarkable developments and the new insights they...more

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