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Kip Thorne

Kip Thorne
Kip Thorne at Caltech.jpg
Born Kip Stephen Thorne
(1940-06-01) June 1, 1940 (age 76)
Logan, Utah, U.S.
Nationality American
Fields Astrophysics, gravitational physics
Institutions California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor John Archibald Wheeler
Doctoral students William L. Burke
Carlton M. Caves
Lee Samuel Finn
Sándor J. Kovács
David L. Lee
Alan Lightman
Don N. Page
William H. Press
Richard H. Price
Bernard F. Schutz
Saul Teukolsky
Clifford Martin Will
Wai-mo Suen
Yanbei Chen
Known for Relativity and Cosmology
Notable awards Lilienfeld Prize (1996)
Einstein Medal (2009)
Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2016)
Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016)
Shaw Prize (2016)
Kavli Prize (2016)

Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009 and is one of the world's leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein's general theory of relativity. He continues to do scientific research and scientific consulting, most notably for the Christopher Nolan film, Interstellar.

Thorne was born in Logan, Utah on June 1, 1940, the son of Utah State University professors D. Wynne Thorne and Alison (née Cornish) Thorne, a agronomist and an economist, respectively. Raised in an academic environment, two of his four siblings also became professors. Thorne's parents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and raised Thorne in the LDS faith, though he now describes himself as atheist. Regarding his views on science and religion, Thorne has stated: "There are large numbers of my finest colleagues who are quite devout and believe in God [...] There is no fundamental incompatibility between science and religion. I happen to not believe in God."

Thorne rapidly excelled at academics early in life, becoming one of the youngest full professors in the history of the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. degree from Caltech in 1962, and Ph.D. degree from Princeton University in 1965. He wrote his doctoral thesis, Geometrodynamics of Cylindrical Systems, under the supervision of relativist John Wheeler. Thorne returned to Caltech as an associate professor in 1967 and became a professor of theoretical physics in 1970, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in 1981, and the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991. In June 2009 he resigned his Feynman Professorship (he is now the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus) to pursue a career of writing and movie making. His first film project was Interstellar, working with Christopher Nolan.


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