Meet The Queer Woman Who Proved Einstein’s Theory About Gravitational Waves

"I am just myself," says Prof. Nergis Mavalvala. "But out of that comes something positive." by Dan Avery 2/15/2016 Letter of Invitation: I would be available to answer any queries regarding best suburbs to integrate socially, just to let you know 21 suburbs of South Australia which are red-flagged by Australian banks. I am happy to provide detail answers to any questions with reference to Property Investment, Subdivision, Development, Buying/ Selling Residential, Commercial, Rural Properties and Businesses. I am available in person (Tue/Thu at 1289 South Rd, St. Marys, SA 5042 12 to 5 p.m) or on cell to answer any questions, and concerns you have to decide about your Real Estate. (Cell: 0431 138 537, Email: Saqlain@Dukesrealestate.com) Click here to invest in South Australian Residential Commercial, Rural Properties, Schools & Businesses. I sell land on this Earth for as cheap as 10 cents/ Sq.M to a price equivalent to price of 2 Aussie Mangoes/ Sq.M. I hope tomorrow I will be selling and leasing Moon's Surface. (Earth is rising over the Moon's Surface), Source: https://www.facebook.com/RealEstateSA5000/photos/a.899877783394135.1073741829.899009183480995/920077631374150/?l=734b9eef72 Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime—almost a century ago. But until recently there was no way to observe them. But thanks to the work of Dr. Nergis Mavalvala and her colleagues at MIT, Einstein’s theory is now a proven phenomenon. Last week, the ultrasensitive telescope her team built detected gravitational waves for the first time, created from the collision of two black holes some 1.3 billion years ago. gravitational-waves “Theoretically a consequence of violent cosmic events—the collisions of black holes, the explosive deaths of stars, or even the big bang—gravitational waves could provide a brand new lens for studying the universe,” writes Science magazine. Women are a rarity in the sciences—LGBT Pakistani women exceedingly so. But Mavalvala, 47, told Science magazine, “I don’t mind being on the fringes of any social group.” The self-described “out queer person of color” and mom to a 8-year-old says being an outsider, “you are less constrained by the rules.” getty Getty Helping with lifting some of those constraints was the MacArthur “Genius Grant” she received in 2010, which came with a $625,000 stipend. “I am just myself,” she says modestly. “But out of that comes something positive.” In the early 1990s Mavalvala, was mentored by MIT professor Rainer Weiss, who was researching gravitational waves. The difficulty in detecting these phenomena has always been screening out minute distortions. Just about anything can move the mirrors by much larger amounts: a car speeding in the distance, a seismic tremor, a clap of thunder. Even the distortion caused by the laser beam itself would need to be accounted for after the system had been shielded against all those external disturbances. “Making the mirrors stay still is something we devote a lot of attention to,” says Mavalvala. “If there is misalignment, the beam could just walk off into the desert instead of hitting its partner.” To help, she devised an automatic alignment system that was incorporated into the the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a joint project between MIT and CalTech. CalTech MIT Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory Mavalvala came to the U.S. from Pakistan as a teen and attended Wellesley College, where she thrived in the physics department. But she didn’t come to terms with her sexual orientation until her 20s, when she found herself in love. Her girlfriend began visiting her at the lab and became part of her social life. The process was organic. “I have never had negative experiences because of this,” she says. “My work environment was very supportive.” “Some people venture into places others consider dangerous or unsavory. They are not foolish or fearless. They read a situation and have some confidence in reading it well enough, so they go there.” In coming out, she says, she looked around and took stock of her work environment. Her sexuality, she figured, would make little difference to those around her. Her instincts proved to be right. Despite her confidence and dedication, Mavalvala insists “I am not someone who is, at all, ’in your face,’… I am quite happy to go unnoticed.” It might be too late for that—she’s become something of a rock star in the science world. Even in Pakistan—no haven for LGBT people—prime minister Nawaz Sharif praised Mavalvala as a source of inspiration for Pakistani scientists and students. ========== Thu Feb 11, 2016 | 6:53 PM EST Einstein's gravitational waves detected in landmark discovery Sounds of gravitational waves as two black holes merge Einstein's gravitational waves detected in landmar.. By Will Dunham and Scott Malone WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientists for the first time have detected gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesised by Albert Einstein a century ago, in a landmark discovery announced on Thursday that opens a new window for studying the cosmos. The researchers said they identified gravitational waves coming from two distant black holes - extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein - that orbited one another, spiraled inward and smashed together at high speed to form a single, larger black hole. The waves were unleashed by the collision of the black holes, one of them 29 times the mass of the sun and the other 36 times the solar mass, located 1.3 billion light years from Earth, the researchers said. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it," said California Institute of Technology physicist David Reitze, triggering applause at a packed news conference in Washington. "It's been a very long road, but this is just the beginning," Louisiana State University physicist Gabriela Gonzalez told the news conference, hailing the discovery as opening a new era in astronomy. The scientific milestone was achieved using a pair of giant laser detectors in the United States, located in Louisiana and Washington state, capping a decades-long quest to find these waves. "The colliding black holes that produced these gravitational waves created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time, a storm in which time speeded up, and slowed down, and speeded up again, a storm in which the shape of space was bent in this way and that way," Caltech physicist Kip Thorne said. The scientists first detected the waves last Sept. 14. The two instruments, working in unison, are called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). They detected remarkably small vibrations from the gravitational waves as they passed through the Earth. The scientists converted the wave signal into audio waves and listened to the sounds of the black holes merging. At the news conference, they played an audio recording of this: a low rumbling pierced by chirps. "We're actually hearing them go thump in the night," Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Matthew Evans said. "There's a very visceral connection to this observation." 'A NEW SENSE' "We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy," MIT astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala said in an interview. "We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well." While opening a door to new ways to observe the universe, scientists said gravitational waves should help them gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. The waves also may provide insight into the mysterious nature of the very early universe. The scientists said that because gravitational waves are so radically different from electromagnetic waves they expect them to reveal big surprises about the universe. Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, points at original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves during a news conference in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Markarian 231, a binary black hole found in the center of the nearest quasar host galaxy to Earth, is seen in a NASA illustration released August 27, 2015. REUTERS/NASA/Handout Reuters/NASA/Handout Dr. Kip Thorne of Caltech makes his closing remarks during a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Dr. Gabriela Gonzalez, spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (L) embraces Dr. Rainer Weiss (R) of MIT at a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Dr. Kip Thorne of Caltech (R) listens during a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Dr. Kip Thorne of Caltech (R) listens during a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albe... Reuters/Gary Cameron + Dr. Kip Thorne of Caltech listens during a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Dr. Rainer Weiss, emeritus professor of physics at MIT, uses a visual aide during a news conference to discuss the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (L-R) Doctors Gabriela Gonzalez, Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne applaud the announcement of the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in Washington February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) research optic is shown in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) research optic is shown in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. Reuters/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) technicians work on optics in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) technicians work on optics in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. Reuters/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters An aerial photo shows Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Livingston Laboratory detector site near Livingston, Louisiana in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters An aerial photo shows Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Livingston Laboratory detector site near Livingston, Louisiana in this undated photo re... Reuters/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters + A Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) technician performs a Large optic inspection in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory on February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters A Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) technician performs a Large optic inspection in this undated photo released by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory ... Reuters/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory/Handout via Reuters + Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves during a news conference in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitat... Reuters/Ronen Zvulun + Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves during a news conference in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitat... Reuters/Ronen Zvulun + An exhibit is seen at the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive during a news conference where original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves were displayed in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun An exhibit is seen at the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive during a news conference where original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the e... Reuters/Ronen Zvulun + Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves during a news conference in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, displays original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitat... Reuters/Ronen Zvulun + Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, points at original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves during a news conference in Jerusalem February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Roni Gross, curator of the Hebrew University's Albert Einstein Archive, points at original documents related to Albert Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravita... Reuters/Ronen Zvulun + Markarian 231, a binary black hole found in the center of the nearest quasar host galaxy to Earth, is seen in a NASA illustration released August 27, 2015. REUTERS/NASA/Handout Markarian 231, a binary black hole found in the center of the nearest quasar host galaxy to Earth, is seen in a NASA illustration released August 27, 2015. Reuters/NASA/Handout › Everything we knew until now about the cosmos stemmed from electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays. Because such waves encounter interference as they travel across the universe, they can tell only part of the story. Gravitational waves experience no such barriers, meaning they offer a wealth of additional information. Black holes, for example, do not emit light, radio waves and the like, but can be studied via gravitational waves. Einstein in 1916 proposed the existence of gravitational waves as an outgrowth of his ground-breaking general theory of relativity, which depicted gravity as a distortion of space and time triggered by the presence of matter. Until now scientists had found only indirect evidence of their existence, beginning in the 1970s. Scientists sounded positively giddy over the discovery. "This is the holy grail of science," said Rochester Institute of Technology astrophysicist Carlos Lousto. "The last time anything like this happened was in 1888 when Heinrich Hertz detected the radio waves that had been predicted by James Clerk Maxwell’s field-equations of electromagnetism in 1865," added Durham University physicist Tom McLeish. Abhay Ashtekar, director of Penn State University's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, said heavy celestial objects bend space and time but because of the relative weakness of the gravitational force the effect is miniscule except from massive and dense bodies like black holes and neutron stars. A black hole is a region of space so packed with matter that not even photons of light can escape the force of gravity. Neutron stars are small, about the size of a city, but are extremely heavy, the compact remains of a larger star that died in a supernova explosion. The National Science Foundation, an independent agency of the U.S. government, provided about $1.1 billion in funding for the research over 40 years. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Scott Malone in Cambridge, Mass.; Editing by Tom Brown)