Solving the secrets of gravity - with Claudia de Rham

A world-renowned physicist seeks gravity’s true nature, and finds wisdom in embracing its force in her life.

This talk was recorded at the Ri on 13 April 2024.

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Claudia de Rham has been playing with gravity her entire life. As a diver, experimenting with her body’s buoyancy in the Indian Ocean. As a pilot, soaring over Canadian waterfalls on dark mornings before beginning her daily scientific research. As an astronaut candidate, dreaming of the experience of flying free from Earth’s pull. And as a physicist, discovering new sides to gravity’s irresistible personality by exploring the limits of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

Join Claudia as she narrates her captivating experiences, navigating the collapse of her dream of becoming an astronaut to the pursuit of finally uncovering the truths of gravity. The brightest minds in physics, from Newton and Einstein to Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, have yet to uncover gravity’s secrets, but their knowledge allowed Claudia to reimagine the theory of massive gravity to finally rid the “ghosts” of gravity – dark energy. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a world leader in theoretical physics, as she unravels the turbulent tales of her success.

00:00 Intro - why can't we feel gravity?
4.29 The equivalence principle
7.28 The fabric of spacetime
11:27 Electromagnetism and gravity
16:42 Gravitational waves and Einstein
19:54 The fundamental forces of nature
28:07 The graviton particle
32:51 How gravity behaves in black holes
40:06 Where Einstein's theory of relativity breaks down
49:02 How to weaken gravity
57:01 What would happen if gravitons had mass?
59:06 The importance of gravity

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Claudia de Rham is a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London, a Simons Emmy Noether Visiting Fellow at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University. She researches gravity, particle physics, and cosmology, in pursuit of a more fundamental description of the nature of our universe. De Rham is a 2020 Simons Investigator in Physics, a 2020 Blavatnik Laureate in Physical Sciences and Engineering, and winner of the 2018 Adams Prize for contributions to Mathematics (previous winners include Stephen Hawking and James Clerk Maxwell). She and her research have been featured in the Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Quanta, and BBC’s “The Naked Scientists,” among other outlets, and she appeared in “Through the Wormhole,” a science documentary series hosted by Morgan Freeman.

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[nuranichandra]

The style and manner with which Dr de Rahm has conducted this lecture dealing with extremely complex subjects in just amazing.

[toma]

Compliments to Dr. de Rahm on delivering this lecture straight through with barely any hesitation. Something very few people can do.
Other pluses:
1) Great audio
2) Great integration of the lecture with the PowerPoint or Keynote slides
3) Good physical demonstrations.

[castell]

What a great channel i just found .I like youtube for videos and channels like that, because this on tv its impossible to see .
Thanks from spain.

[johnalbinson]

A remarkably fluid and cnfident speaker who knows her subject!

[peterjones]

What a brilliant speaker who really knows her subject. Kept me spellbound through the entire speech.

[terrizittritsch]

What, what a wonderful lecture bringing many difficult and complex topics to an understandable level.

[edwardlee]

All these years, after a number of lectures in physics, astronomy, cosmology, I thought a thing or 2 about gravity already only now, I really scratch the surface of gravity. Thanks for the efforts and keep up the good work.

[Turbohh]

So beautifully explained, personalized, dramatized and exciting. Wow. You are the best! Thank you.

[johnanderson]

I enjoy these lectures so much. I wish I could really understand the content on the level she does...it must be very empowering!

[PacificAirwave]

Love, love, love these Royal Institution uploads!

[theextragalactic]

Always so many brilliant talks here! Your summer programme is superb.

[PardhaS]

Brilliant! The lecturer is so clear and lucid. It’s a real skill to capture the nuances of a complex topic and make it understandable.

[arvindseewoosungkur]

Thank yo very much for this talk and sharing your knowledge. Keep up the great work and good luck with your projects.

[anthonyinzerillo]

Carl Sagan Christmas lectures at Royal Institution were classics.

[falsemcnuggethope]

"The Beauty of Gravity" sounds like a body positivity slogan.

[Gamerock]

Truly fascinating subject matter that has held me spellbound since childhood, so wonderfully discussed. Thank you from here.

[charleslaurice]

Thank you Mr.Cain for putting the cookies down low enough for me to get them, I’m 70 retired in the Philippines and very low tech I wish you were my neighbor!

[bobjackson]

Great lecture on gravity and gravitons and so much more. I found the talk deep, and leaves me thinking. I like to think.

[dxmmvgz]

I wonder if Apollo 15 commander David Scott had any idea how influential that gravity demonstration — which wasn’t in the flight plan — was going to be. This is at least the third Royal Academy lecture I’ve seen that refers to it. Apollo 15 was also the mission where they found the genesis stone that gave us the best understanding (at the time) of how old the moon and earth are. And by then the world was bored and not watching. Great lecture.

[AM-dnlk]

A truly amazing lecture. An excellent lecturer.