Contact:	Michael Padilla, 505-277-1816 Jason Gil Bear, 505-277-5813
May 31, 2002 SCIENTIST AND AUTHOR TO LECTURE ON EINSTEIN'S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY AND ASTROPHYSICS Kip Thorne, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, Calif. will speak on Monday at 8 p.m. at the Albuquerque Convention Center, Ballroom B. Thorne's lecture, "Ripples in the Fabric of Space and Time: Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves," will focus on introducing people to a broad range of astronomical discoveries in historical context. It will include a discussion on black holes and gravitational waves. Thorne is a co-founder of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences. He received a Physics Science Writing Award of the American Institute of Physics for his book, "Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy." Admission is free to the public and reservations are not necessary. Sigma Xi, The American Astronomical Society and The Scientific Research Society are sponsoring the lecture. # # #

The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981