Physicist Claudia Drum: Gravity connects everything, from humans to planets

phosphorusrof Claudia de Rham is a theoretical physicist at Imperial College London, developing and testing new models and paradigms at the intersection of gravity, cosmology and particle physics. She just published her first book, The Beauty of Falling: A Life Pursuing Gravitycharts her lifelong attempt to understand the true nature of the forces around her, which led her to become an astronaut, diver, and pilot.

In your book, you say that you have been chasing gravity your whole life. what does that mean?
It’s something that we all have, this interesting relationship with gravity. But in a way, it has its own meaning for me, to actually try to go to outer space and challenge gravity in a slightly different way. If that doesn’t work out yet, then do it from a more scientific perspective, which is understanding the basic framework behind our gravity models; coming up with new models, and looking for ways to see if we can try these models.

What is it about gravity that you find so compelling?
Gravity is so universal. I think this is something very fundamental, a phenomenon that affects everything, everyone, all the time, everywhere. It does absolutely everything: it connects everything and everyone. We all experience it the same way, whether we are a person or a planet, a black hole or a balloon, a hammer, a feather, a piece of cheese, or a pumpkin seed. It’s something deep within us that we can’t beat. The feeling of weightlessness, of free fall, is gravity. It is a complete freedom in itself.

You trained as a diver and pilot to better understand the fundamental forces around us, and entered the final selection phase of European Space Agency astronaut training. How did that journey begin?
In a sense, it started with wanting to chase gravity. For me, this means trying to go into outer space, experience gravity in a different environment, and experience this feeling of weightlessness on a deeper level. So when I was able to crystallize that in my head as a kid, it really became a long-term goal. For a long time in my life, everything I did was focused on I wanted to be an Astros, I wanted to be involved in Astros selection and put myself in the best position possible.

What does astronaut training involve?
We were put through a series of tests, most of which were designed to assess our team abilities in stressful situations. This involved a pretend rescue expedition through the jungle, and we were asked to plan this dangerous mission, knowing that resources were limited, night was coming, and if we weren’t careful, some of us might not make it back. Another photo shows us pretending to be air traffic controllers landing several planes running low on fuel at a crowded airport. The problem is that each of us only gets half of the information, so we have to communicate and collaborate precisely with our partners to get things done. Of the nearly 10,000 applicants, 99.5% were rejected at the final stage. Only 42 people entered the second phase of training.

Your hopes were dashed during the final selection process when you discovered latent tuberculosis, which you described as a little souvenir that I must have unknowingly brought back from your childhood in Madagascar. Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you weren’t sick?
I see candidates going to space, which is certainly a dream. But at the same time, I don’t regret the path I’ve taken in life since then. I think that opens up other opportunities.

How much more do we still have to learn about gravity?
The beauty of what we now know about gravity is that there is still so much to learn about it. We now know that Einstein’s general theory of relativity is no longer a consistent and accurate description of what happens in certain situations, such as very close to the center of a black hole or the Big Bang. His theory seemed to suggest that we could measure some physical quantities, such as the curvature of spacetime, which appear to become infinite (what we call singularities), but measuring infinite values ​​simply didn’t make sense. In order to understand what replaced his theory when it no longer worked, we might want to ask ourselves some questions, such as what happens at the center of a black hole? Or what happened during the Big Bang? But if the concepts of space and time no longer make sense, then the question itself may not make sense either. We don’t even have the language to express our questions, let alone answer them.

What can gravity tell us about the future?
What we know now is that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, something that would have been surprising just 25 years ago. We need to understand what is causing this accelerated expansion and whether the laws of gravity used to describe it are valid.We need to understand this better [understand] What will happen in the future. Will this accelerated expansion continue forever? Will it become more accelerated? Will it stop? We don’t know, because we don’t even know what the origin of this phenomenon actually is. Therefore, the fate of our universe, and to some extent the fate of space and time, will depend on what is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe.

Is it frustrating to have so many questions and so few answers?
Be excited. Its small steps. If all you want to do is see if your findings will be applied tomorrow, this is not the field for you. But you do learn: you gain a deeper awareness of the nature around you, and it’s these small, daily steps that really make the biggest improvements in the long run. Every little understanding is a breakthrough in itself because it takes us deeper. In science, even negative results are consequences in themselves.

• The Beauty of Falling: A Life Pursuing Gravity Author: Claudia de Rham Published by Princeton University Press (20).in order to support guardian and observer Order your copy at Guardianbookshop.com.Shipping charges may apply