DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
CHRIST (DEEMED TOBE UNIVERSITY), BANGALORE

Report on the invited talk
(29th June 2019, Sky View, 4 to 5.30 pm)

On the evening of 29th May 2019, the Department Chemistry at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore in association with Bengaluru Science Collective organized a lecture on the occasion of the 100th year of the discovery of the ‘Gravitational Bending of Light’ by Sir Arthur Eddington. A wonderful evening at Sky View where Professor Ajith Parameshwaran from International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), the head of the team of scientists at the institute involved in the discovery of Gravitational waves, took the audience through the 100 years journey from 29th March 1919 to 29th March 2019.
On 29 May 2019, 100 years have passed since the confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, an event that fundamentally changed our understanding of physics and astronomy. Astronomers observed a total eclipse of the Sun, and photographs taken during the eclipse showed the apparent deflection of stars from their normal position, confirming Einstein's theory. Arthur Stanley Eddington's 1919 expedition confirmed Einstein's prediction for the deflection of light by the Sun during the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 which helped to cement the status of general relativity as a true theory. Since then many observations have confirmed the correctness of general relativity.
Dr. Ajith touched upon the General Theory of Relativity. The first triumph of GR: Explaining Mercury’s orbit. Why one cannot explain precisely the orbit pattern of Mercury using Newtonian physics. How Einstein's theory worked here. Interesting consequences of GR: Gravitational bending of light- Gravity bends light. Arthur Stanley Eddington's expedition to verify the bending of light. Gravitational lensing. Detection of exoplanets. Energy Budget of the Universe Predictions of General Relativity. Gravitational force impact time, Einstein predicts how time is impacted by weak and strong gravitation fields. The Google Maps – GPS, we use is factoring this theory. Gravitation Radiation. The first direct detection of gravitational waves. Gravity not only bends light but bends gravitational waves. Several binary black hole detections. The new frontier of Gravitational lensing of GWs.  
The inquisitive audience covers students and teachers of CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and a blend of Science Enthusiasts around Bengaluru. The session is over, still over a cup of coffee the discussions are on. The audience interactions and quality of questions evoke the Department of Chemistry and Bangalore Science Collective to organize such lecture series again.