Life searching for ripples in spacetime | Gabriela González | TEDxLSU

Gaby González and her team at LIGO have proven that when you search for the small numbers you can make massive discoveries - like proving Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves, which are smaller than even the smallest piece of an atom. In this talk, Gaby takes us through the process of g-wave discovery and introduces us to another small number we should be looking at if we want to continue scientific innovation: the small number of women working in physics

If Albert Einstein were alive today, he’d probably be booking a trip to Louisiana. That’s because LSU professor, international award-winner and National Academy of Sciences member Dr. Gaby González is helping unravel one of the longest-running mysteries in astronomy. A native of Argentina and a graduate of Syracuse University, Gaby has worked in LSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory Scientific Collaboration (LIGO) in Livingston, Louisiana, since 2001. In 2015, LIGO detectors reported the very first recorded gravitational wave, a ripple in the fabric of space and time resulting from the collision of two black holes. This discovery proved Albert Einstein’s century-old prediction about the existence of gravitational waves. Gravitational waves present us with a new way of looking at the universe, and Gaby, along with the other researchers at LIGO, received the “2016 Breakthrough of the Year” award from Science magazine. In 2016 Gaby was named Scientist of the Year by Great Minds in STEM and in 2017, Gaby received the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx