Eliot Quataert works on the theoretical investigations of black holes, supernova explosions, and the formation and evolution of galaxies. An exceptional young scientist, he was appointed as a professor in the astronomy department at UC Berkeley at the age of 28. The recipient of Harvard University's Bok Prize, the American Astronomical Society's Warner Prize, and a Miller Research Professorship at UC Berkeley, he also regularly gives non-technical talks describing the physics of black holes to the general public.

Dr. Quataert will begin by describing what black holes are (and what they are not!). He will then discuss how big black holes at the centers of galaxies are discovered, how they form, and how they give rise to some of the most remarkable and bizarre phenomena in the universe.