Dr. Jeff Williams, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Brandon University

Abstract

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein began work on a theory of gravitation that culminated in 1915 in his Theory of General Relativity, later to be verified during a solar eclipse by the famous deflection of starlight experiment.  Such interplay between light and gravity recently surfaced afresh when the Pittsburgh Relativity Group reformulated Einstein’s theory in terms of patterns made by light beams as they shine outwards to infinity.  This seminar describes thePittsburghapproach in terms of simple examples and will be understandable by all.