Lecture abstract

Time:   19. March 2018
Place:   Faculty of Physics
Title:   Gravity and modern physics
Abstract:
General theory of relativity, since its initial formulation a century ago until today, does not stop to amaze with its elegance and deep insight into the structure of space, time and gravity. From the first predictions of bending of light and perihelion precession of Mercury, to the recent experimental detection of gravitational waves, GR is one of the most successful physical theories overall.

We shall discuss several characteristic (and elementary) examples which nicely illustrate the relationship between the modern theory of gravity and the rest of physics. A brief description of the ideas related to the quantization of the gravitational field will be given, as well as the problems one encounters there. The emphasis will be on the understanding of the basic physics, without complicated math.