Kip Thorne

Physicist

American Logan, Utah

Quick Info

ProfessionPhysicist
NationalityAmerican
Date of Birth01/06/1940
Age85 years
BirthplaceLogan, Utah

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Physical Stats & More

Height170 cm (5' 7")
Weight60 kg (132 lbs)
Eye ColorBrown
Hair ColorN/A (Bald)

Educational Qualification(s)

Ph.D.Princeton University, 1965
B.S.California Institute of Technology, 1962

Personal Life

Zodiac sign/Sun signGemini
HometownLogan
SchoolNot Known
College/UniversityCalifornia Institute of Technology, California, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Relationships & More

Marital StatusMarried
Wife
  • Linda Jean Peterson (1960-1977)
  • Carolee Alison Thorne (1984-present)
Children
  • Bret Carter
  • Kares Anne

Family

FatherD. Wynne Thorne (Professor of Soil Chemistry)
MotherAlison C. Thorne (Economist and Community Activist)
Siblings4
ReligionAtheism

Career

Awards/Achievements
  • 1967: Guggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & Canada
  • 1992: Richtmyer Memorial Award
  • 1994: Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science
  • 1996: Karl Schwarzschild Medal, Lilienfeld Prize
  • 2009: Albert Einstein Medal
  • 2010: Niels Bohr International Gold Medal
  • 2016: Gruber Prize in Cosmology, Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, The Shaw Prize, Harvey Prize, Kavli Prize
  • 2017: Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research, Harvey Prize in Science and Technology, Nobel Prize in Physics
Lesser Known Facts
  • Does Kip Thorne smoke?: Not Known
  • Does Kip Thorne drink alcohol?: Not Known
  • Two of his four siblings ended up being professors due to the academic environment at home.
  • Expert on the astrophysical implications of General Theory of Relativity
  • Worked closely with Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan
  • Collaborated with Christopher Nolan on the movie Interstellar
  • Co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 for contributions to gravitational wave observations and LIGO
  • Learned Russian to understand Soviet physics literature and collaborated regularly with Russian scientists on astrophysics and gravitational waves research
  • Authored popular science books including Black Holes and Time Warps
  • Full professor of theoretical physics at Caltech in 1970, one of the youngest in Caltech history at age 30
  • Co-founded the SXS Project (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) with Saul Teukolsky in the early 2000s
Current PositionFeynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus at California Institute of Technology
Career Highlights
  • Associate Professor at Caltech, 1967
  • William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor, 1981
  • Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, 1991
  • Co-authored the general relativity textbook Gravitation with John A. Wheeler and Charles Misner
  • Provided theoretical support for LIGO detector development
  • Created the SXS Project (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) with Saul Teukolsky of Cornell University in the early 2000s to simulate gravitational wave sources
  • Scientific advisor for the 2014 film Interstellar
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