Professor Kip Thorne on Lomnicky Peak

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On Sunday, October 17, 2021, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Professor Kip Thorne with his wife and granddaughter visited the astronomical station of our institute on the top of Lomnicky Peak. After a busy week in Bratislava, he came to rest in High Tatras and for 1 hour to see the experimental equipment of the detached workplaces of IEP and Astronomical Institute SAS.

At the beginning, the head of the Department of Space Physics, Pavol Bobík, welcomed the special guest with his family and informed them about the research and the rich history of the department. Subsequently, collaborators Ronald Langer and Ján Kubančák acquainted the guests in detail with the physics and technique of cosmic radiation measurement in our country and showed them our neutron detectors. Finally, the modest and curious Professor Kip Thorne, after an interesting discussion with colleagues from Department of Space Physics, signed their chronicle with his wife and wished them all the best.

We think that this rare visit will become a great memory for those who have been honored to be visited by him.

Kip S. Thorne is an American physicist and internationally recognized expert in gravitational physics and astrophysics, with focus on relativistic stars, black holes and gravitational waves. He is one of three scientists who were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for the first direct detection and observation of gravitational waves. He also made history of science fiction movies as the executive producer and scientific advisor to Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
More about Professor Kip Thorn’s program in Slovakia can be found on the ESET website.
Text and photo: S. Gabáni