Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Alessandra Buonanno Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam Abstract: The detection of gravitational waves from binary black holes constitutes a major scientific discovery, as it permits a new kind of observation of the cosmos, quite different from electromagnetic and particle observations. In this talk I will review the theoretical groundwork that allowed us to identify and interpret the gravitational-wave signals, and discuss how those new astronomical messengers can unveil the properties of the most extreme astrophysical objects in the universe, and inform us about the theory of gravity in the highly dynamical space-time regime. Additional details of the upcoming Astrophysics' seminars can be found on the following link. ‏האירוע הזה כולל שיחת וידאו ב-Google Hangouts. הצטרף: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/mail.huji.ac.il/astrophysics?hceid=bWFpbC5odWppLmFjLmlsX2c0czhydDlpcmhwZzRvdGNybWIzZGFqcjdvQGdyb3VwLmNhbGVuZGFyLmdvb2dsZS5jb20.uitpi0og3hu5ms1engp394d8go&hs=121