How and when did you choose to do physics?
“Since middle school, I found my interest in technical education and physics. As every science enthusiast, space was also my fascination since childhood. Later I did my Bachelor's and Master's degree in Instrumentation Engineering in India and really was interested to pursue research in Astronomical Instrumentation. When the new era of gravitational-wave astronomy is inviting the world, I couldn’t resist myself falling to its field and I am here.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 5 years old because I was so fascinated with space. I then chose to study physics (and not philosophy, in the end) in my last year of high school, because of the awe I felt when looking at the night sky and thinking about what was ‘out there’ in the universe. This motivated me to challenge myself by studying something I did not know much about.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“As a teenager, I used to go to a science event called “Naukas”, which was celebrated every year in my home country, and where scientists talked about their research in a very attractive and enjoyable way. Attending those talks influenced me a lot.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I always liked numbers and science but I decided to do Astrophysics in my last year of high school.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“When I was doing my bachelors it became clearer to me that I enjoyed and was fascinated in learning space science and so I transitioned my study path in my masters followed by my PhD.”
What is your vision for women and girls in science in 20 years?
“Academia where there are as many women as men so that the workplace (including social areas and everyday interactions) is balanced, where all voices contribute and are heard with equal weight.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I decided to study physics in my final year of high school, around the time I was applying to universities. Prior to that point I had planned to study engineering, but I took an internship supervised by a physicist who inspired me to learn about the mechanics of our world at a more fundamental level. I also got involved with a particle physics competition around that time, which piqued interest in contemporary physics research more specifically.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“Even though I was interested in physics after high school, I first studied political science. At the end of my Bachelor I enrolled in the University of Buenos Aires in philosophy. There I also had the chance to take a math course which I did because I was still curious about science. During this course I understood that I preferred to learn about the world with the means of equations.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I decided to study physics in high school because I was fascinated by the universe and how it works. Learning about Einstein and other great physicists inspired me to explore nature and how it affects our reality.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“As a child I always liked science and mathematics and I was fascinated by the Universe and how it works. When I was in High School, I participated in the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad. Because of that, I decided to study both mathematics and physics. During my bachelors, I realised astrophysics is more my passion than mathematics, so I continued down that road.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I really decided last minute when choosing a university! I really liked maths and read a lot about physics, which was my main motivation for studying it, but other areas also were very interesting to me, making a decision like this difficult.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“Physics was my favourite subject at school. I studied mechanical engineering because it combines physics with other disciplines. I like solving problems and developing new technologies. After my bachelor thesis (…), I decided to deepen my knowledge in optics. Therefore I did a Master in Optical Technologies and wrote a master thesis on optical metrology (…). After that, I decided to take the opportunity and start my PhD in Physics to further deepen my knowledge.”
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I chose to do physics in my last year of high school after reading a lot of books by Stephen Hawking.”
Dr. Ana Alonso-Serrano is a long-term vistor at @mpi_grav Potsdam.
She has worked on several aspects at the interface of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Nowadays, she is focused on the study the quantum behavior of spacetime close to the classical singularities and phenomenology of quantum gravity.
What would you recommend to young women wanting to start a physics career?
“I think it’s scary to start anything new but unless you give it a try you wouldn’t know if it’s exciting for you or not. Physics is a pretty interesting field and I’m sure you will be fascinated to learn if you stay curious.”
Narjiss Messied is a PhD student in the “Space Interferometry” group.
Her PhD work is in the context of the @LISA project, which is a planned gravitational-wave observatory mission. Her work aims to test one of the essential devices for the mission: the Phasemeter, which is responsible for recovering the information that confirms the presence of a gravitational wave in the signal.
She conducts ground-based laboratory optical experiments to subject the Phasemeter to a series of tests, attempting to make the experimental conditions as realistic as possible within certain limitations. This approach not only allows to ensure the instrument’s reliability under mission-like conditions, but also evaluates the efficiency of post-processing analysis techniques that are crucial for distinguishing the gravitational signal from the overwhelming noise embedded in the measurements.
Juliane von Wrangel is a PhD student in the “10 m Prototype” group
Together with her colleagues she is building a 10-metre interferometer to overcome the fundamental limits of measurement accuracy imposed by quantum mechanics.
How and when did you choose to do physics?
“I was participating in math and physics additional courses during my school years. I was quite certain in what I am going to study. However, really deep interest and passion came to me when I first encountered gravitational physics. At that time gravitational waves were still not discovered and seemed to me to be a huge mystery. I still think how fascinating this field of science is and I think it opens up access to a lot of other knowledge.”
Dr. Gudrun Wanner is an Independent Group Leader for Optical Simulations in the “Space Interferometry” group.
She is helping to realize the planned space-based gravitational wave detector @LISA. She is specialized on the LISA interferometry and in particular on optical simulations that are needed to ensure the excellent noise performance required for LISA.
Jiang Ji Ho Zhang, a PhD student in the “Space Interferometry” group, first joined @mpi_grav after hearing about our research at a conference.
She found everything so exciting and challenging that she decided to start her PhD in Hannover.
