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The Centre of Gravity Project

Objective

The foundations of the general theory of relativity (GR) were laid by Albert Einstein in 1915. But much of what has been built on those foundations was developed in the Renaissance Period of GR between 1955 and 1975. Indeed, without the concepts and tools formed during this Renaissance, the recent observation of gravitational waves, rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics in 2017, and the convincing prediction of and mounting evidence for the existence of black holes, rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics in 2020, would not have been possible.
At the centre of the Renaissance of GR is Roger Penrose. It was Penrose who developed much of the tool box that made the successes of the Renaissance possible. Penrose was surrounded by and built upon the work of the newly emerging international community of relativists, in particular Hermann Bondi at Cambridge, John Wheeler at Princeton, Jrgen Ehlers at Hamburg, and Stephen Hawking at Cambridge.
The Centre of Gravity Project (COGY) will combine pioneering research on the literary estates of the core figures of the Renaissance period, including unique access to the hitherto inaccessible Penrose estate, with the analysis of detailed oral-history interviews. The analysis will be helped by the creation of a novel kind of database that will help cross-correlate the different sources.
The aim is to get to the bottom of the most advanced mathematical techniques and conceptual innovations of GR, concepts like black holes and event horizons. In understanding the genesis and subsequent interpretation of these concepts we will also lay the groundwork for understanding the most exciting elements of today's physics: the physics of gravitational waves as they arise from black hole and neutron star mergers, as well as of the supermassive black hole around which our entire galaxy rotates.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG

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Host institution

RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 999 736,00
Address
REGINA PACIS WEG 3
53113 BONN
Germany

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Region
Nordrhein-Westfalen Köln Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 999 736,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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