You are cordially invited to a

Screening and Panel Discussion of the Film

"The Faraway Nearby: A Journey Into Space, Time and the Mystery of Black Holes”

Monday, April 15, 2024

4:30 p.m. Guest arrival
5 p.m. Movie begins
6:20 p.m. Panel discussion

Hoff Theater (Ground Floor)
Adele H. Stamp Student Union
University of Maryland
Parking Information

Light refreshments will be served.

If you have a question about this event, including disability accommodations, please contact Danelle Corwin at danellec@umd.edu or 301-405-4324.

About the Film
Groundbreaking science and art intersect to tell the story of the late UMD Physics Professor Joe Weber—the first scientist to explore the detection of gravitational waves. Derided by the science community, Weber worked nearly alone to answer one of the great questions of science: could we "hear" the universe through gravitational waves, much like we "see" the universe through electromagnetic waves? Could the same passion to explore the unknown become his undoing? This was a quest that consumed him up to his death. Including interviews with Nobel Laureates Kip Thorne and Ray Weiss, psychologist Steven Pinker, astrophysicists Nergis Mavalvala, Janna Levin and others, this feature-length documentary inspires audiences to see their world differently and feel the thin divide between passion and reason. [Film trailer »]

About the Panel Discussion

Moderator:

• Steve Rolston, Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics

Panelists:

• Paula Froehle, Director of "The Faraway Nearby"
• John Mather, College Park Professor of Physics, Nobel Laureate in Physics (2006)
• William Phillips, Distinguished University Professor and College Park Professor of Physics, Nobel Laureate in Physics (1997)
• Peter Shawhan, Professor of Physics

Read more about UMD’s contributions to the discovery of gravitational waves »