Pakistani born Dr Nergis part of team that verified Einstein’s theory

WASHINGTON: Pakistani born astrophysicist Dr Nergis Mavalvala was part of the team of scientists who verified Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

Dr Nergis in an interview to an American newspaper stated that technology is now so advanced that we cannot only see things but can also hear them. She said that scientists have opened an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos by finding ripples in the fabric of space time called gravitational waves, making it possible to hear the secrets.

Almost 100 years ago, the famous scientist Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves or ripples in the fabric of space time in 1916. Einstein was of the view that these waves would be really small and nearly impossible to detect.

Studying the idea, scientists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration started working and, for the first time, detected gravitational waves in an instrument on Earth.

Dr Mavalvala, 47, attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi and did her graduation in Physics and Astronomy from Wellesley College in 1990. She continued her education and received a PhD degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997.

The astrophysicist started working on gravitational waves at the MIT Physics department in 2002.