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Measuring ripples in the curvature of space-time

Experimental physicist Sheila Rowan works with laser beams and suspended mirrors to sharpen detection of collapsing stars and other celestial events.
By
  1. Amber Dance

    1. Amber Dance is a freelance writer in Los Angeles, California.

Sheila Rowan stands reflected in a mirror

Sheila Rowan is director of the Institute for Gravitational Research at the University of Glasgow, UK, and chief scientific adviser to the Scottish government. Credit: Kieran Dodds for Nature

As an experimental physicist, I like doing things at tabletop scale that contribute to bigger goals. One such goal is measuring gravitational waves — little ripples in the curvature of space-time. These ripples result from astrophysical events such as star collisions, which cause tiny changes in the direction of the force of gravity and stretch and squash distances here on Earth.

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Nature 583, 872 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02212-9

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