Claudia de Rham Pedro Ferreira

Influential theoretical physicist Professor Claudia de Rham explains the true nature of gravity and describes how she has found wisdom by embracing its force in her own life.

De Rham shares stories about her quest to gain intimacy with gravity. She has experimented with buoyancy as a diver in the Indian Ocean, soared over Canadian waterfalls as a pilot and dreamed as an astronaut candidate of experiencing complete freedom from gravity. And she explains how a twist of fate led her to a breakthrough at the very frontier of gravitational physics and a new theory of ‘massive gravity’.

De Rham is professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London. She is regarded as one of the most influential researchers in fundamental physics of the last decade. Here she talks to Pedro Ferreira, professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford.

Owen Mumford Ltd are supporters of the festival’s science and medicine programme and the festival’s annual award for science and innovation.