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Italian-American physicist Fulvio Melia's history of the Kerr metric shows how solving Albert Einstein's field equations led to a deeper understanding the mysteries of galactic black holes.

A University of Arizona physicist has written a book about how one of the great puzzles of science was finally unraveled. Fulvio Melia, a professor of physics and astronomy at the UA, will be on hand at the UA BookStore next week to discuss "Cracking the Einstein Code."

For decades, Einstein's mathematical code – six interlocking equations related to his general theory of relativity – had been one of the most difficult problems in science.

Then in 1963, along came Roy Kerr, a mathematician from New Zealand who figured it all out. Today scientists routinely cite the Kerr metric, but even among specialists few know the story of how he did it.

In "Cracking the Einstein Code" Melia offers an account of the events leading up to Kerr's great discovery. More than 300 million super massive black holes are suspected of anchoring their host galaxies across the cosmos, and the Kerr metric is what astronomers and astrophysicists use to describe how many of those formations behave.

By unmasking the history behind the search for a real world solution to Einstein's field equations, Melia reveals an important but previously untold story that is ultimately a showcase of how important science gets done.

Melia is a native of Gorizia, Italy, studied at Melbourne University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is the author of several books. He is also an authority on the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

The discussion and book signing are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on the main level of the UA BookStore, Student Union Memorial Center.

The event is free and open to the public, and is presented by the UA BookStores and the University of Chicago Press.