Kip S. Thorne
Theoretical Physicist
Kip Thorne is the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, at Caltech. He was the co-founder (with Rai Weiss and Ron Drever) of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) Project and he chaired the steering committee that led LIGO in its earliest years (1984-87). In the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, he and his research group provided theoretical support for LIGO, including identifying gravitational wave sources that LIGO should target and laying foundations for data analysis techniques by which their waves are being sought. Thorne has been mentor for 52 Ph.D. physicists, many of whom have gone on to become world leaders in their chosen fields of research. With John A. Wheeler and Charles W. Misner, Thorne coauthored in 1973 the textbook Gravitation, from which most of the present generation of scientists have learned general relativity. He is also a co-author of Gravitation Theory and Gravitational Collapse (1965) and Black Holes: The Membrane Paradigm (1986), and the sole author of the the worldwide best-seller, Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy (1994). Dr. Thorne received his B.S. degree from Caltech in 1962 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1965. After two years of postdoctoral study, he returned to Caltech as an associate professor in 1967, was promoted to Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1970, became The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor in 1981, and The Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991.
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