The Einstein Telescope: A new dialogue with the universe

We are living through a Galileo moment in the history of science—the birth of a new astronomy based on observations of gravitational waves. These waves are minuscule ripples in the fabric of space-time, once predicted by Albert Einstein. Today, a century later, plans are underway to construct the Einstein Telescope: a giant, futuristic underground observatory designed to detect gravitational waves arriving from every corner of the cosmos.

The Einstein Telescope promises to take us on a mind-boggling journey through the universe—from the horizons of black holes and the cores of distant galaxies to our deepest origins at the Big Bang. What might we discover? Will the telescope be built in the Belgian–Dutch–German border region? And where do we stand in this moonshot project of our era?

Join us at TheMerode for a special evening with Thomas Hertog—cosmologist, director of the Leuven Gravity Institute, and close collaborator of the late Stephen Hawking—as he explores the scientific and socio-economic implications of the Einstein Telescope project. He will reveal how this ambitious endeavor—potentially to be built in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, a cross-border region including parts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany—aims to detect the universe’s faintest whispers, challenge fundamental scientific paradigms, and reshape our collective worldview.