Nergis Mavalvala | |
---|---|
Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
Nationality | Pakistan United States |
Known for | Interferometric gravitational waves, quantum measurement |
Awards | 2013 Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science, MacArthur Fellows |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astrophysics and Quantum Physics |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thesis | Alignment issues in laser interferometric gravitational-wave detectors (1997) |
Doctoral advisor | Rainer Weiss |
Nergis Mavalvala (born 1968) is a Pakistani-American astrophysicist known for her role in the first observation of gravitational waves.[1] She is the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she is also the Associate Head of the Department of Physics.[2] She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2010.[3][4]
Mavalvala is best known for her work on the detection of gravitational waves in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project.[1][5][6]