Saturday Science Lecture with Mark Alford on Neutron stars: last exit before the black hole

One of Oppenheimer’s lasting contributions is his work on the densest stars in nature, neutron stars. His work showed how heavy they can become before gravity collapses them into black holes. This talk will be an introduction to neutron stars, covering their formation, inner structure, and how collisions between neutron stars may be the original source of the heavy elements such as gold and uranium that we find in the rocks of our own planet.