Norna Robertson

Last updated

Norna Robertson (FRSE, FInstP, FRAS, FAPS) is a lead scientist at LIGO at California Institute of Technology, [1] and professor of experimental physics at the University of Glasgow. [2] Her career has focused on experimental research into suspension systems and instrumentation to achieve the detection of gravitational waves. [3]

Contents

Norna Robertson
Alma mater University of Glasgow
AwardsPresident's Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, California Institute of Technology Staff Service and Impact Award
Scientific career
Fields Gravitational waves, experimental physics
Institutions LIGO, California Institute of Technology, University of Glasgow
Thesis Experiments relating to the detection of gravitational radiation and to the suppression of seismic noise in sensitive measurements (1981)
Doctoral advisor Ron Drever and Jim Hough

Education

Robertson obtained a Ph.D. in experimental physics in 1981 from the University of Glasgow, researching gravitational wave detection and how seismic noise could be suppressed in sensitive measurements. [4]

Research and career

Robertson began her postdoctoral career as a researcher at Imperial College London studying infrared astronomy. [5] In 1983, she joined the University of Glasgow as a lecturer and returned to gravitational waves research, becoming a Professor in 1999. [4]

In 2003, Robertson moved to the Gintzon Laboratory at Stanford University as a visiting professor, where her work focused on suspension systems for Advanced LIGO. [6] She became a lead scientist at the LIGO at California Institute of Technology in 2007, leading an international team of 20 scientists and engineers. [7] Her research contributed to the design of detection instrumentation that ultimately led to the first observation of gravitational waves in 2015. [8] [9] Her work is now focused on the development of ultra-low noise suspensions systems for Advanced LIGO. [7]

Awards and honours

Robertson was awarded the President's Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2016 for her work on suspension systems for gravitational wave detection. [10] She received the California Institute of Technology Staff Service and Impact Award in 2017. [11]

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, [12] the American Physical Society, [13] the Royal Astronomical Society, the Institute of Physics, [14] and the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LIGO</span> Gravitational wave detector

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry. These observatories use mirrors spaced four kilometers apart which are capable of detecting a change of less than one ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kip Thorne</span> American physicist (born 1940)

Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics</span>

The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics is a Max Planck Institute whose research is aimed at investigating Einstein's theory of relativity and beyond: Mathematics, quantum gravity, astrophysical relativity, and gravitational-wave astronomy. The institute was founded in 1995 and is located in the Potsdam Science Park in Golm, Potsdam and in Hannover where it closely collaborates with the Leibniz University Hannover. Both the Potsdam and the Hannover parts of the institute are organized in three research departments and host a number of independent research groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Allen (physicist)</span> American physicist and director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

Bruce Allen is an American physicist and director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover Germany and leader of the Einstein@Home project for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. He is also a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the initiator / project leader of smartmontools hard disk utility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GEO600</span> Gravitational wave detector in Germany

GEO600 is a gravitational wave detector located near Sarstedt, a town 20 km to the south of Hanover, Germany. It is designed and operated by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Leibniz Universität Hannover, along with University of Glasgow, University of Birmingham and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and is funded by the Max Planck Society and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). GEO600 is capable of detecting gravitational waves in the frequency range 50 Hz to 1.5 kHz, and is part of a worldwide network of gravitational wave detectors. This instrument, and its sister interferometric detectors, when operational, are some of the most sensitive gravitational wave detectors ever designed. They are designed to detect relative changes in distance of the order of 10−21, about the size of a single atom compared to the distance from the Sun to the Earth. Construction on the project began in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Drever</span> British physicist (1931–2017)

Ronald William Prest Drever was a Scottish experimental physicist. He was a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology, co-founded the LIGO project, and was a co-inventor of the Pound–Drever–Hall technique for laser stabilisation, as well as the Hughes–Drever experiment. This work was instrumental in the first detection of gravitational waves in September 2015.

Sir James Hough is a British physicist and an international leader in the search for gravitational waves.

Bernard F. Schutz FInstP FLSW is an American and naturalised British physicist. He is well known for his research in Einstein's theory of general relativity, especially for his contributions to the detection of gravitational waves, and for his textbooks. Schutz is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at Cardiff University, and was a founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, where he led the Astrophysical Relativity division from 1995 to 2014. Schutz was a founder and principal investigator of the GEO gravitational wave collaboration, which became part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). Schutz was also one of the initiators of the proposal for the space-borne gravitational wave detector LISA, and he coordinated the European planning for its data analysis until the mission was adopted by ESA in 2016. Schutz conceived and in 1998 began publishing from the AEI the online open access (OA) review journal Living Reviews in Relativity, which for many years has been the highest-impact OA journal in the world, as measured by Clarivate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alessandra Buonanno</span> Italian / American physicist

Alessandra Buonanno is an Italian naturalized-American theoretical physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam. She is the head of the "Astrophysical and Cosmological Relativity" department. She holds a research professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park, and honorary professorships at the Humboldt University in Berlin, and the University of Potsdam. She is a leading member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which observed gravitational waves from a binary black-hole merger in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Barish</span> American physicist

Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.

Vladimir Borisovich Braginsky was a Russian experimental and theoretical physicist and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Rowan (physicist)</span> Professor of Physics, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government

Sheila Rowan is a Scottish physicist and academic, who is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and director of its Institute for Gravitational Research since 2009. She is known for her work in advancing the detection of gravitation waves. In 2016, Rowan was appointed the (part-time) Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiara Mingarelli</span> Italian-Canadian astrophysicist

Chiara Mingarelli is an Italian-Canadian astrophysicist who researches gravitational waves. She is an assistant professor of physics at Yale University since 2023, and previously an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut (2020–2023). She is also a science writer and communicator.

Peter Shawhan is an American physicist. He is currently professor of physics at the University of Maryland and was a co-recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Gruber Prize in Cosmology, and the Bruno Rossi Prize for his work on LIGO.

Stanley Ernest Whitcomb is an American physicist and was the chief scientist at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project when the first direct detection of gravitational waves was made in September 2015.

Peter Reed Saulson is an American physicist and professor at Syracuse University. He is best known as a former spokesperson for the LIGO collaboration serving from 2003 to 2007 and research on gravitational wave detectors.

Jonathan Cooper is Professor of Engineering in the College of Science & Engineering at the University of Glasgow. Professor Cooper has held the Wolfson Chair in Bioengineering at the school since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rana X. Adhikari</span> American experimental physicist (born 1974)

Rana X. Adhikari is an American experimental physicist. He is a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an associate faculty member of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (ICTS-TIFR).

Laura Cadonati is an American physicist who specializes in gravitational waves.

Jess McIver is an American astronomer. She is an Associate Professor and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. McIver is a member of LIGO, one of the recipients of the Science 2017 Breakthrough of the Year.

References

  1. "Norna Robertson | Caltech Directory". directory.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  2. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Norna Robertson". universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  3. "'It's the discovery of the decade'". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  4. 1 2 "The Scottish Connection" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  5. "Prof. Norna Anne Robertson - AcademiaNet". www.academia-net.org. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  6. Calendar, Stanford Event. ""Suspensions for Advanced LIGO"". events.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  7. 1 2 "Professor Norna Robertson, University of Glasgow". University of Glasgow. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  8. "President's Medals for gravitational wave researchers". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  9. Redacción (2017-10-16). "La impresionante colisión de dos estrellas de neutrones que provocaron las ondas gravitacionales que predijo Einstein". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  10. "President's Medals for University of Glasgow gravitational wave researchers". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  11. "LIGO Staff Honored at Caltech's 2017 Service and Impact Awards". LIGO Staff Honored at Caltech's 2017 Service and Impact Awards. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  12. "Professor Norna Anne Robertson FRSE". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  13. "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  14. "University of Glasgow :: Schools :: School of Physics and Astronomy :: Research :: Research Groups - Institute for Gravitational Research - Our Staff and Students - Personal details". www.physics.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  15. "International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation". www.isgrg.org. Retrieved 2020-06-23.