On October 13, 2025, the Yale Society of Physics Students (SPS) hosted Kip Thorne, 2017 Nobel Laureate and the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as the seventh guest of honor and speaker for the Howard L. Schultz, Sr. Prize Lecture. He delivered a talk entitled “Exploring the Warped Side of our Universe From Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Quantum Fluctuations To Wormholes and Hollywood Movies” to a packed house in the Yale Science Building Marsh Lecture Hall. Prof. Thorne was co-hosted by Darya Dayanim ‘28 prize lecture chair for SPS and Chiara Mingarelli, assistant professor of physics.
In his talk Thorne referenced his new book, The Warped Side of Our Universe”, where he collaborates with the award-winning artist Lia Halloran.
Mingarelli commented, “Kip Thorne showcased both his scientific skills and legendary mentorship abilities during his Howard L. Schultz, Sr. visit. He took hundreds of photos with students, signed all their books, notebooks, and sat with them one-on-one when time permitted to give them his advice. The students and faculty were thrilled to have him give such an engaging lecture, the atmosphere was electric, and we are grateful that he was so generous with his time.”
Dayanim added, “Echoing everything Prof. Mingarelli said!” and continued “For every event we had, the room was overflowing with students. Even Marsh Hall seemed too small! We know of some parents that flew in to see the lecture. After the lecture, I got an incredible number of messages from undergraduates emphasizing what a unique experience it was and how grateful they were that he came to visit, including many students saying that Kip is their role model. This is something the undergraduate community as a whole will be reminiscing about for a while.”
As part of the schedule of events during his visit Kip Thorne was treated to a Carillion concert at Harkness Tower of the Interstallar Theme learned and played by Yu-Ting Chang ‘27, an undergraduate researcher in Mingarelli’s group, before heading to lunch at Jonathan Edwards College. Mingarelli added, “Lunch was sponsored by Jonathan Edwards college and was attended by 50 undergraduates. He also signed their books, notebooks, and took selfies with them for 2 hours. We are grateful to Head of College, W. Mark Salztman, for arranging a private room at JE for lunch”.
Regarding the Carillion concert, Chang commented, “I am a junior astrophysics and political science double major, and member of Professor Chiara Mingarelli’s research group, working on pulsar noise modeling for gravitational wave searches. I am also a member of the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs, the student group that plays the 54-bell Yale Memorial Carillon of Harkness Tower. I joined only a year ago in fall 2024.”
Chang continued, “The carillon is a beautiful instrument, unlike any other. Though it has a piano-like layout, it has large wooden batons that one plays with both hands and feet, and there is a steep learning curve. Interstellar is the first non-beginner piece that I have become proficient at. I was honored for the opportunity to play for Kip Thorne, and have dedicated a few hours of practice per week since the beginning of the semester to rehearsing the piece.”
Chang concluded, “The version of Interstellar I played was the themes of Day One and Cornfield Chase, composed by Hans Zimmer for the film and arranged by Isaiah Suchman ‘25, a recently graduated Guild member and my teacher during the audition process last year. I made slight further modifications of my own in the process of learning the piece. Although theoretically possible for one person to play, the piece is much better suited as a duet, and I played with Adriana Zhou ‘28, a fellow Guild member. Meeting and playing for Kip Thorne was an exciting experience, and we were glad to hear that he enjoyed listening to the piece on the bells.”
The day concluded with dinner at September at Bangkok.
The Howard L. Schultz, Sr. Prize Lecture is given each year by a distinguished physicist to the Yale physics community, the prize lecture serves to facilitate conversations between undergraduate students and the greater physics community.
Previous invited speakers for the Howard L. Schultz, Sr. Prize Lecture include Nobel Laureate F. Duncan M. Haldane from Princeton University, Professor Monika Schleier-Smith from Stanford University, Professor Nima Arkani-Hamed from the Institute for Advanced Study, Professor Kerstin Perez form Columbia University, Roxanne Guenette from the University of Manchester, and Helen Quinn from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.
Links to lecture recording and to Lia Halloran’s site are below.