Astronomy and Physics Department holds science café on gravitational waves

The University of Mississippi Astronomy and Physics Department hosted its monthly Science Café at Heartbreak Coffee on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.  

The presentation, titled “The Symphony of the Universe” focused on the sounds of gravitational waves — produced by extremely violent events in the universe such as black holes or neutron stars merging — and the technology scientists use to detect them.

Anuradha Gupta, a UM assistant professor of astronomy and physics, presented the event. Heartbreak Coffee, gave out free slow drip coffee, hot chocolate, tea and muffins to attendees. 

During the presentation, Gupta played the sounds of black holes and neutron stars merging, as captured though gravitational waves, for the audience to hear. 

Nicholas Bombelli, an Oxford native and freshman physics and mechanical engineering double major, shared his experience at the event.

“It was interesting to hear how it was audible, the gravitational waves,” Bombelli said. “I heard specifically that (the Science Café) was on gravitation, and that’s something that I haven’t really covered in classes as much as maybe other topics, and I thought I’d be really interested in coming here. I enjoyed it very much.”

High-energy physics doctoral candidate Zahin Rabbi, from Chittagong, Bangladesh, spoke about the importance of events such as the Science Café.

“Dr. Gupta gave a very interesting talk. … I think this is important because it brings physics to the community. Physics has a certain reputation that it is quite hard to get into, but talks like this that can be broken down into layman’s terms makes it less intimidating, and so it is good for the community and for the people,” Rabbi said. 

The presentation ended with a round of applause and a question and answer. 

“I want everybody to be passionate about these things,” Gupta said,  “If you love something, you want everybody else to love it too, so this is kind of the motivation of giving all these kinds of talks, so that other people can also appreciate the excitement and beauty of these things.”

The next Science Café will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at Heartbreak Coffee and is free to the public to attend.

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