Black Holes: More than Meets the Eye

Of all the legacies of Einsteinʼs general theory of relativity, none
is more fascinating than black holes - space-time singularities, whose
gravitational fields are strong enough to distort space, alter the
flow of time, and even prevent light from escaping. By the mid 1990s,
the existence of black holes was proven beyond any reasonable doubt,
and on a scale far larger than anyone had anticipated. This talk will
discuss how astronomer have come to believe that black holes with
masses million to billion times the mass of the Sun lurk at the
centers of galaxies. More surprisingly still, I will discuss how these
black holes might play a much more important role in the evolution of
galaxies than anyone had anticipated.