We are so familiar with gravity – but there are extreme situations in which the current theory simply breaks down. Researchers out on the frontiers of physics want to rethink it, and some of the most groundbreaking ideas are coming from Claudia de Rham of Imperial College London. It’s true, she says, that gravity is the overarching miracle connecting everything, everywhere, forever in the Universe.

“It has been tested with impeccable agreement in the most challenging environments, from the edges of black holes to the weakest strain of gravitational waves. Yet, at the core of all its successes, its most profound feature yet is that it predicts its own fall.”

But, she says, if we navigate through the foundations of gravity, we may show how it underpins the universe’s origin and fate – and also explain its accelerated expansion, without the need for the concept of dark energy.

Claudia de Rham is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London. Working at the interface where gravity and cosmology meet quantum theory, she has won many awards, and is much in media demand, with appearances ranging from the BBC’s Sky at Night to Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and with many YouTube interviews like this one. Her book The Beauty of Falling (2024) includes her experiences with gravity at various times of her life.