Prize Winning Astrophysicist Explains Black Hole Formation

Professor Steven Balbus (Shaw Prize 2013) explains his work on black hole formation. Interview with University of Oxford mathematician Dr Tom Crawford recorded at the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2023. Steven discusses his reaction at being awarded the prize in 2013, before a detailed explanation of his influential work on accretion disks, and how the magnetic field around a black hole can be understood by considering a spring between rotating masses. We also discuss his position at the University of Oxford as the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, and why he decided to work in astrophysics. Finally, Steven answers some quick-fire questions includng "blackboards versus whitebaords", "pi vs tau", "angles versus radians", "favourite number", "favourite star" and "favourite mathematical result". Links to Tom's other interviews with Laureates in Maths and Computer Science. Robert Langlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNh0cd09hxQ Whitfield Diffie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaanzpCkc8c Lesley Lamport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPVvReKyhmw Alessio Figalli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oob466Ia9f4 Martin Hairer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6XP3n-Sjiw Michael Atiyah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alujy8SVIDM Daniel Spielman: https://youtu.be/SVfabuPRkYg Efim Zlemanov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3_RzZzuO8 Produced by Dr Tom Crawford at the University of Oxford. Tom is Public Engagement Lead at the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/ For more maths content check out Tom's website https://tomrocksmaths.com/ You can also follow Tom on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @tomrocksmaths. https://www.facebook.com/tomrocksmaths/ https://twitter.com/tomrocksmaths https://www.instagram.com/tomrocksmaths/ Get your Tom Rocks Maths merchandise here: https://www.beautifulequation.com/collections/tom-rocks-maths With thanks to Steven Balbus Hong Kong Laureate Forum Dan Addison ESA/Hubble Tudor ESO EHT Collaboration NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman Gary Settles Josh Estey/AUSaid WHOI Simons Centre Peter Mercator MVLAN Berkeley The Wire Rogelio Bernal Andreo ESO/P. Kervella