December 1, 2009

• Event features expert from Princeton University

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Princeton University mathematics Professor Sergiu Klainerman, Ph.D., a world-renown expert on black holes, will examine the gravitational objects that are so strong they trap everything in their vicinity in a lecture set for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7.

Klainerman's lecture, The Mathematical Magic of Black Holes, will take place in the Hill University Center Alumni Auditorium, 1400 University Blvd. The event is free, open to the public and formatted for the layman.

"Black holes are some of the most intriguing phenomena in the universe. Once pulled into a black hole nothing can escape - not even light," said event organizer Gilbert Weinstein, Ph.D., UAB associate professor of mathematics. "Dr. Klainerman's lecture will bring these incredible forces to life for the audience. He will discuss how black holes can form and how mathematics can help us predict their final state of equilibrium."

Klainerman has been a professor at Princeton University since 1987. His research investigates the formation of black holes and rigidity problems for stationary black-hole solutions.

The lecture is being offered in conjunction with the one-day Southeast Geometry Seminar hosted by UAB and funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

About UAB

The UAB Department of Mathematics offers a complete range of courses in both pure and applied mathematics at the undergraduate, master and doctoral levels. The majority of the more than 20 full-time faculty members in the department are practicing research mathematicians, many of whom are nationally and internationally respected for their work.