Clear In vivid is sponsored by the Covley Foundation dedicated to advancing science for the benefit of humanity.

I'm Alan Olga and this is Clear In vivid conversations about connecting and communicating.

A gravitational wave or gravity wave can be thought of, I think, most nicely as it's stretching and squeezing of space and everything in that space then gets stretched and squeezed.

As the wave passes through me, saved from my front of my face to the back, it stretches my face, say horizontally and squeezes my face vertically.

And then at the next moment it stretches vertically and squeezes horizontally but it's such a tiny stretch and squeeze that you'll never notice it.

Kipthorn has been searching for that tiny squeeze from space, a gravitational wave, for much of his life.

Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity.

But it wasn't until September 2015 that giant detectors in Washington State and Louisiana finally picked up a slight rustle in space time.

It was coming from the collision of two black holes over a billion years ago in a galaxy far, far away.

In our conversation Kipthels me why detecting gravitational waves was so hard and why it will be so important in our understanding of the origin of the universe.

And he also recalls helping me understand the mind of another great physicist Richard Feynman when I played Feynman on the stage,

as well as why he suggested that wormholes could solve a problem with the plot of the hit movie interstellar.

Kipthels is so great to be able to talk to you again, we've had some wonderful conversations in the past.

Well you have, I have great memories. You've talked me a lot about communicating.

I kind of doubted. Well especially how to prepare beforehand.

No kidding. You go pee first and you're losing yourself out.

That's funny. And I've passed that on to many people.

Well, it's funny because that's just what I just did.

Me too.

That's so great. You know what what's wonderful about this?

You've been awarded aside from many other great prizes, the Nobel Prize.

Yes, I awarded the Nobel Prize as an icon for a team of a thousand people.

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