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TEDxPittsburgh - Dr. Maura McLaughlin - The Dark Side

2,874 views · Published 5 December 2011 · 10:48 · Indexed 6 October 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2011 · Science & Technology

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Maura is Associate Professor of Physics at West Virginia University spending much of her time studying pulsars and the, as yet unachieved, direct detection
of gravitational waves. Maura became interested in astronomy by reading science
fiction and the works of Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and Stephen Hawking. She earned her B.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Penn State and her Ph.D.
in Astronomy and Space Science from Cornell University. After Cornell, she
became a National Science Foundation distinguished research fellow at the
University of Manchester in England and, in 2004, was part of an international team that discovered the first known system of two pulsars in orbit around
each other. She is an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Research Corporation for
Scientific Advancement Cottrell Scholar, and is the Principal Investigator on the "Pulsar Timing Array for Gravitational Wave Detection" program for the NSF.

 In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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