How old is the Universe? How was it born? How will it end? Why are we here? What is a black hole and what do they do? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Vítor Cardoso in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

 A renowned astrophysicist, Vítor Cardoso is Chair of the Physics Department at Instituto Superior Técnico, and Villum Investigator and DNRF Chair at the Niels Bohr Institute. He received his PhD in Physics in 2003 at Instituto Superior Técnico and did post-doctoral research in Saint Louis, Missouri and Oxford, Mississippi in the United States. His research interests focus on gravitational waves and black holes and the physics of space, and he is a pioneer in black hole spectroscopy. He is the author of a book and more than 200 articles published in international journals. His research has been distinguished three times by the European Research Council. In 2015, he was awarded the Order of Santiago D'Espada by the Portuguese President, for his contributions to science.

 In this episode, Vítor Cardoso explains what astrophysics is and what his work in this field entails. Namely, describes how this kind of research necessitates a lot of international cooperation, and also how it forces a person to “struggle with their own limitations as a scientist”. He also addresses the importance of the images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and how much we learned about Space in the last few decades. He discusses why Space research and exploration matters, and the possibility of having human beings living in other planets. Finally, Vítor Cardoso looks at the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, in a conversation well worth listening to. 

More on this topic

• Superradiance: New Frontiers in Black Hole Physics, Vitor Cardoso, Richard Brito and Paolo Pani, 2020

• “Tests for the existence of black holes through gravitational wave echoes” an article by Vítor Cardoso (with Paolo Pani) published in Nature

• A conversation about the Cosmos between Vítor Cardoso and fellow astrophysicists Michio Kaku and Carlo Rovelli, hosted by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation

• Vítor Cardoso on black holes

• Vítor Cardoso on “black holes as engines of discovery”

Other references in Portuguese

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Os buracos negros têm cabelo?” with Joana Marques and Vítor Cardoso

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Porque queremos tanto descobrir o céu?” with Joana Marques and Vítor Cardoso

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa “O que sabemos sobre o Universo?” with Francisco Lobo and Paulo Crawford

• Essay of the Foundation “Portugal e o Espaço” by Manuel Paiva

• “Olhos nos Espaço”, a conference held by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation