Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Professor Steven Balbus (Shaw Prize 2013) explains his work on black hole formation. Interview with University of Oxford mathematician Dr Tom Crawford recorded at the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2023.
Steven discusses his reaction at being awarded the prize in 2013, before a detailed explanation of his influential work on accretion disks, and how the magnetic field around a black hole can be understood by considering a spring between rotating masses. We also discuss his position at the University of Oxford as the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, and why he decided to work in astrophysics. Finally, Steven answers some quick-fire questions includng "blackboards versus whitebaords", "pi vs tau", "angles versus radians", "favourite number", "favourite star" and "favourite mathematical result".
Links to Tom's other interviews with Laureates in Maths and Computer Science.
Robert Langlands: youtube.com/watch?v=XNh0cd09hxQ
Whitfield Diffie: youtube.com/watch?v=UaanzpCkc8c
Lesley Lamport: youtube.com/watch?v=DPVvReKyhmw
Alessio Figalli: youtube.com/watch?v=Oob466Ia9f4
Martin Hairer: youtube.com/watch?v=Z6XP3n-Sjiw
Michael Atiyah: youtube.com/watch?v=alujy8SVIDM
Daniel Spielman: youtu.be/SVfabuPRkYg
Efim Zlemanov: youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3_RzZzuO8
Produced by Dr Tom Crawford at the University of Oxford. Tom is Public Engagement Lead at the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education: conted.ox.ac.uk
For more maths content check out Tom's website tomrocksmaths.com
You can also follow Tom on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @tomrocksmaths. facebook.com/tomrocksmaths
twitter.com/tomrocksmaths
instagram.com/tomrocksmaths
Get your Tom Rocks Maths merchandise here:
beautifulequation.com/collections/tom-rocks-maths
With thanks to
Steven Balbus
Hong Kong Laureate Forum
Dan Addison
ESA/Hubble
Tudor
ESO
EHT Collaboration
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman
Gary Settles
Josh Estey/AUSaid
WHOI
Simons Centre
Peter Mercator
MVLAN
Berkeley
The Wire
Rogelio Bernal Andreo
ESO/P. Kervella
Professor Steven Balbus (Shaw Prize 2013) explains his work on black hole formation. Interview with University of Oxford mathematician Dr Tom Crawford recorded at the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2023.
Steven discusses his reaction at being awarded the prize in 2013, before a detailed explanation of his influential work on accretion disks, and how the magnetic field around a black hole can be understood by considering a spring between rotating masses. We also discuss his position at the University of Oxford as the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, and why he decided to work in astrophysics. Finally, Steven answers some quick-fire questions includng "blackboards versus whitebaords", "pi vs tau", "angles versus radians", "favourite number", "favourite star" and "favourite mathematical result".
Links to Tom's other interviews with Laureates in Maths and Computer Science.
Robert Langlands: youtube.com/watch?v=XNh0cd09hxQ
Whitfield Diffie: youtube.com/watch?v=UaanzpCkc8c
Lesley Lamport: youtube.com/watch?v=DPVvReKyhmw
Alessio Figalli: youtube.com/watch?v=Oob466Ia9f4
Martin Hairer: youtube.com/watch?v=Z6XP3n-Sjiw
Michael Atiyah: youtube.com/watch?v=alujy8SVIDM
Daniel Spielman: youtu.be/SVfabuPRkYg
Efim Zlemanov: youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3_RzZzuO8
Produced by Dr Tom Crawford at the University of Oxford. Tom is Public Engagement Lead at the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education: conted.ox.ac.uk
For more maths content check out Tom's website tomrocksmaths.com
You can also follow Tom on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @tomrocksmaths. facebook.com/tomrocksmaths
twitter.com/tomrocksmaths
instagram.com/tomrocksmaths
Get your Tom Rocks Maths merchandise here:
beautifulequation.com/collections/tom-rocks-maths
With thanks to
Steven Balbus
Hong Kong Laureate Forum
Dan Addison
ESA/Hubble
Tudor
ESO
EHT Collaboration
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman
Gary Settles
Josh Estey/AUSaid
WHOI
Simons Centre
Peter Mercator
MVLAN
Berkeley
The Wire
Rogelio Bernal Andreo
ESO/P. Kervella
