Talk:Kip Thorne

Nobel Prize Medal?
Isn't this page missing a nobel prize medal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Åke Lindblom (talk • contribs) 01:13, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Warpage and the quantum
What is "warpage and the quantum" supposed to mean in this article? --Constantine Evans 03:51, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * The above question is an example of "wide-eyed optimism." It assumes that the person who used the phrase "warpage and the quantum" actually had an interest in communicating an idea to another person. Most likely, this hieratic pronouncement was meant to amaze and impress. Professor Thorne learned the technique from Professor Wheeler, who appears to derive much amusement from such assertions. "Warpage and the quantum" is meant to be stated with a condescending smile. If anyone presumes to ask its meaning, a perfect silence follows.152.163.101.9 13:41, 16 November 2005 (UTC)PythagoreanBrotherhood


 * Exactly how many documented instances do you have of said resultant Perfect Silence? I personally have never been condescended to in such a manner by Thorne, Wheeler, or any professional physicist. In my experience, Wheeler never resorted to obfuscation. What he did do was invent idioms to encode a lot of information in tractable packages. For the most part, physicists of my acquaintance tend to be eager to teach and generous with their time in doing so.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.223.130.32 (talk) 18:11, 8 April 2015 (UTC)


 * This is an incredibly late reply, but I would like to note that my question was not intended as wide-eyed optimism, but as skepticism. "Warpage and the quantum" doesn't make sense to me. I've never heard Kip say this, and have only heard one sane person use "warpage" (somone with LIGO, if I recall). I've removed it until someone can come up with a way to explain it. --Constantine Evans 07:14, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Real name
I was just reading the history of this Article, and it would seem that the name had been frequently changed from Kip S Thorne to Kip Dent. Has Kip ever been known as the latter? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by WASTREL (talk • contribs) 17:44, 11 February 2006 (UTC).


 * I don't think so. That name change occurred just once, earlier this week, and was part of a vandalism spree. Also notice that the Kip Dent move was followed by a second move to an obviously absurd name. ×Meegs 18:29, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Mr.Thorne
Thank you meegs; that is very helpful. But why would somebody want to vandalise Mr. Thorne? Anyway, I was also wondering whether what is said about Mr. Thorne being the first person to conduct research on time travel was true? Surely that has been something that man has looked into scientifically for hundreds, if not thousands of years? WASTREL 14:32, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

...Why would someone want to vandalise Mr. Thorne? - mmmmmm ...and this is a very speculative answer... If Mr/Dr Thorne was the first person to conduct R&D into time travel then his "Wiki" page would be an obvious target for malicious edits from the future (if he is successful). The fact that Wiki sites relating to time travel are not vandalised as soon as (or before) they are first put up, suggests something (I'm not sure what). Personally, I think he looks like Louis Wu (which is more worrying). 86.165.105.7 (talk) 22:19, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Trivia
I removed the following content from the article. It is trivia without sources and of dubious value and accuracy. Please refer to WP:BLP for Wikipedia policy on biographies of living persons. --Walter Siegmund (talk) 16:30, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * A tale revealing of his brilliance: In the middle of a Caltech presentation entitled Einstein and the Astronomers: Testing Relativity 1914-1933, Kip Thorne was called upon to check the accuracy of a figure concerning the famed orbital anomaly (i.e., the precession of the perihelion) of Mercury that had baffled astronomers until Einstein provided an explanation. He quickly provided the solution on a manila folder, stating "it's 43 seconds of arc per century, not 0.43", and deconstructed the parlor trick he employed in a way that would make sense to only a few people on the planet.
 * One of Thorne's greatest mentors has been John Wheeler. It was because of Wheeler that Thorne became so well known throughout the world.
 * Kip Thorne knew Richard Feynman, another famous student of John Wheeler, and idolizes Albert Einstein, "the patron saint of relativity".

Lapsed Mormon
The infobox says he is a "lapsed Mormon". I find this rather oxymoronic, if he used to be a Mormon but "lapsed" out of it, why call him a Mormon? Or is he a practicing Mormon, but somehow not quite up to the standards, or what? Or is it that he simply grew up in a Mormon family? In any case, "lapsed Mormon" makes little sense to me. If there will be no objections, I'll remove it in a while. If anyone knows what his religious affiliation is or whether he has any, please fill it in. Naphra 19:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Removed. (Forgot to log in, though.) Naphra 01:22, 26 February 2007 (UTC)


 * In his book Black Holes and Time Warps, Thorne states, "I had had a simple and supportive early life--born and reared in a large, tightly knit Mormon family in Logan, Utah"(p.267). A footnote adds "In the late 1980s, at my mother's suggestion, the entire family requested excommunication from the Mormon Church in response to the Church's suppression of the rights of women" (ibid). So he does have Mormon roots (not to mention that Logan, Utah has a lot of Mormons).  If he was baptized -- like most Mormon children -- at age 8, then he had been a member of the LDS church for 32 years in 1980.  Whether he was involved with church meetings or other activities (either before or after 1980) is not made clear in the book, other than the fact that he uses the term "Mormon family."


 * Another note: from what I understand, you can't actually request to be "excommunicated" from the LDS church. Excommunication is administered by church leaders, typically with practicing members of the church who transgress a major spiritual law (such as adultery).  Most likely the family requested that their names be "removed from church records," without any kind of ecclesiastical judgment (I've never heard of a family being excommunicated, only individuals).  However, the fact that Thorne uses the term as such in his book suggests that the family was not very active with church activities, at least by 1980.  --Begeun (talk) 01:51, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Interstellar
In the current article, there's a section devoted to an upcoming film adaptation of Kip Thorne's works on Black Holes. The film adaptation in question is Interstellar to be directed by Christopher Nolan for Warner Bros. and Paramount Films. As of now, the film has a release date of November 7, 2014 with casting discussions in place. Instead of posting all information about that movie in this section, isn't it better to start a new article named Interstellar (film)? I know that information on the film is scarce at the moment but its only a matter of time before more information becomes available. --KrazzyDJ (talk) 15:09, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

Black hole cosmology
Does Kip Thorne's Hoop Conjecture disprove or contradict naked singularities? I find the phrase "cast aside the thought" unnecessarily ambiguous. Ceaseless (talk) 07:56, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

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Merger discussion
If the information in the article below is notable it should be merged into this article, there is not a particular reason I can see for it to be a standalone article. Phil (talk) 02:15, 1 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Removed Merge proposal tag from the talk page since it is properly placed on the article as well. Operator873 CONNECT 05:10, 4 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Support: I have no idea what Kip Thorne bet numerical relativitsts is, but it certainly isn't a proper article. Loooke (talk) 12:05, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

Independent article inspired in Thorne–Hawking–Preskill bet or Scientific wager, but merging in a Kip Thorne bio subsection is also OK. Also good idea to merge into numerical relativity page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Colwikicol (talk • contribs) 01:27, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Merge sounds like a good idea, as not much would ever be written on the topic. Numerical relativity could mention it. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:42, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Merge, preferably to Scientific wager. Worth mentioning at the Kip Thorne article, but I'd redir to the Scientific wager page and tag with . --Slashme (talk) 16:13, 6 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Speedy merge This is not a proper article. This doesn't look like something that can be expanded into a standalone article. Optakeover (U)(T)(C) 12:54, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

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Better expression
original text: He continues to do scientific research and scientific consulting, most notably for the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar.[4][5]

The Interstellar is an old film, so we should keep all the information, but write it in a better form.