![Aif2022 Levin Janna](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e1c46575-831b-4a4f-ac1b-9b25c325ec03/AIF2022_Levin_Janna.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=0%2C35%2C2790%2C2791&w=290)
Janna Levin
Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College of Columbia University; Director of Science, Pioneer Works; Author, Black Hole Survival Guide
Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Columbia University’s Barnard College. She is also founding director of sciences at Brooklyn cultural center Pioneer Works and editor in chief of online art and science magazine Pioneer Works Broadcast. A Guggenheim Fellow, Levin has contributed to understanding black holes, the early universe, extra dimensions, chaos, and the shape of the universe. She presented the NOVA feature “Black Hole Apocalypse” on PBS and has worked at Cambridge University and UC Berkeley’s Center for Particle Astrophysics. Levin’s most recent book is Black Hole Survival Guide; she also authored Black Hole Blues, How the Universe Got Its Spots, and a novel, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, which won the PEN Prize.
Previously
![In Conversation: David Byrne and Janna Levin on the Mind, Theater, and the Elusive Self](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cab73e88-e173-44b3-970c-397bb25874c4/aif-2022-byrne.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1067%2C600&w=400)
Legendary, award-winning artist David Byrne joins in conversation with astrophysicist Janna Levin, director of sciences at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Byrne co-created an immer...
![Opening Session](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0fe55411-5bd0-495f-ba1b-0743f41da2d5/52173840525_174816ae2a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C6758%2C3802&w=400)
We’ll kick off the Festival with Big Ideas, followed by a dialogue on the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade.
![Black Hole Survival Guide](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/a9aa27a9-1eb4-4556-b611-683888a80f23/aif-2022-blackhole.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=468%2C102%2C1114%2C626&w=400)
Scientists recently made the monumental announcement of the first picture of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. As surely as the Earth orbits the sun, we orbit that...
![Space Time Ripples and Einstein's Legacy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8335bd9b-e72f-4980-ab81-1173f14078d0/27880176052_d0b197700a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C72%2C3888%2C2188&w=400)
Headline news was made in 2016 when the detection of gravitational waves, caused by the collision of two black holes, was confirmed by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-W...
![Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/1a587def-2d6b-4e9b-a1ae-7db14e0781e0/27859178942_7f117338a1_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C614%2C7360%2C4145&w=400)
Black holes are dark. That’s their essence. Being dark against a dark sky and a shadow against a bright sky are the defining features that earned them a name. A telescope has...
![Deep Dive: Space—Why We Explore](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/888ea9b5-3f40-4a95-a146-6ee74ebadb7d/27859273412_d9a18ec2d0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=423%2C1062%2C6560%2C3690&w=400)
What is the universe made of and why don't we know what it's made of? From the esoteric to the concrete.