Janna Levin, Person-in-Residence
Kilachand Honors College Person-in-Residence for Spring 2024 is Dr. Janna Levin, cosmologist, author, and professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. You can read her full bio below.
Browse the drop-down boxes below to learn more about each event. The lecture event on Monday evening is open to the broader BU community, while the breakfast on Tuesday morning is reserved for students.
Date & Time: Monday, February 12, 2024 Location: College of Arts & Sciences, Astronomy Auditorium, Room 522 Event Description: Join us for an absorbing keynote where Janna Levin will speak on ideas from black holes, to creativity, to the union of art and science, and show the audience just how far science has come—and where it’s headed. Attendance: Admission is free but seats are limited; a reservation will ensure a place: here.Black Hole Survival Guide: An Evening with Janna Levin
5:30-7 pm
(725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215)
(For Kilachand Honors College Students) The first 50 Kilachand students to register and arrive at the event will get a signed copy of one of Janna Levin’s books! At the event, a QR will be posted for you to check-in. You must check-in to earn co-curricular attendance credit for this event.
Date & Time: Tuesday, February 13, 2024 Location: Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 17th Floor, Conference Center Event Description: Join Janna Levin for breakfast and a conversation about her work and space. Attendance: You can register for this event in advance on Handshake here. Student Breakfast & Discussion with Janna Levin
8-9:30 am
(665 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215)
(For Kilachand Honors College Students) At the event, a QR will be posted for you to check-in. You must check-in to earn co-curricular attendance credit for this event.
Janna Levin is a gifted author, cosmologist, and Guggenheim Fellow whose latest book, Black Hole Survival Guide, offers a glimpse into “one of the oddest and most intriguing topics in astrophysics”(Kirkus Reviews). Accompanied by original artwork from painter and photographer Lia Halloran, the book is at once authoritative and accessible—allowing scientists and non-scientists alike to better understand the wonder of the cosmos. Levin writes with a striking, intelligent prose about everything from relativity and quantum mechanics, to the solar system and the Milky Way. Her earlier book Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, which was named one of Kirkus’ best non-fiction books of 2016, provided a fascinating history of the Nobel-Prize winning pursuit to detect gravitational waves: the holy grail of modern cosmology, otherwise known as the soundtrack of the universe. “If what we witnessed before was a silent movie, Levin says, “gravitational waves turn our universe into a talkie.” Intelligent, illuminating, and wildly entertaining, Levin’s talks are a brilliant introduction to cosmic phenomena that shapes our universe. Her debut book, How the Universe Got Its Spots, fused geometry, topology, chaos and string theory to show how the pattern of hot and cold spots left over from the big bang may one day help reveal the true size and shape of the universe. Her next book, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, bridged fiction and nonfiction to tell a strange story of coded secrets, psychotic delusions, mathematical truth, and age-old lies. Most recently she hosted Black Hole Apocalypse, for a special episode of PBS’s Nova—the first female presenter of a Nova show in 35 years. Levin is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. Her scientific research concerns the early universe, chaos and black holes. Her book A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines won the PEN/Bingham Fellowship for Writers which “honors an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work … represents distinguished literary achievement.” It was also a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award for “a distinguished book of first fiction.” Levin has worked at the Center for Particle Astrophysics (CfPA) at UC Berkeley, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at Cambridge University and the Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University, where she won an award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and Arts. Levin holds a BA in Physics and Astronomy from Barnard College with a concentration in Philosophy, and a PhD from MIT in Physics. She was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2012.Learn more about Janna Levin
See more from Janna Levin