The discovery of gravitational waves—predicted but not seen by Albert Einstein—made headlines in early February. One of the key members of the team that found them is not only a brilliant scientist, but also a lesbian mom of color.
Dr. Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at MIT, has worked on detectors for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory ( LIGO ) for 25 years. She explains on her website ( emvogil-3.mit.edu/~nergis/ ), "The LIGO interferometers are 2.5 mile long instruments that use laser beams to precisely measure the positions of mirrors separated by long distances. These measurements can tell us if a gravitational wave is passing by."
What's the big deal about gravitational waves? The Pakistani-born Mavalvala writes, "Directly detecting gravitational waves will open a new window to further our understanding of Universe. Gravitational waves will tell us about Black Holes that gobble up light, but radiate gravitational waves, and about the earliest moments after the Big Bang, when light could not escape the birth throes of the Universe." They were predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, but not detected until now.
In 2010, Mavalvala won a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant" for her "fundamental contributions to physics at the intersection of optics, condensed matter, and quantum mechanics." She told Science magazine in 2012 that her outsider status as an "out, queer person of color" has its advantages: "You are less constrained by the rules."
Some of the rules she's trying to work around are the rules of the universe itself. "Quantum mechanics limits the performance of the LIGO detectors," she tells us. "Our goal is to find ways to get around these quantum limits."
In a keynote speech Mavalvala gave at the 2012 Out to Innovate conference held by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals ( NOGLSTP ), she spoke about being "a little gender bending" while growing up in the "traditional society" of Pakistan. Her family supported what they saw was her tomboyism, but had no sense that she was "a baby dyke in the making."
After an undergraduate degree in astronomy and physics from Wellesley College, she started graduate school at MIT, where she fell in love with a woman for the first time. "I had very little trouble coming out," she related. Because she'd seen that women, typically outsiders in science, were treated well in her group, she was more willing to take the "calculated risk" of coming out there as well. Her partner simply started showing up in the lab where Mavalvala was working 16 to 18 hours a day. "Organically, I sort of just came of age as a lesbian in this group," Mavalvala said.
She advised her audience to "celebrate being different. We're all different not just because we're queer and we're nerds, but we're different in many other ways, too. ... We all should surround ourselves by [sic] people who can embrace our differences."
Additionally, she urged them to "Take risks. Cause it's often really worth it."
Mavalvala and her partner are now raising their 8-year-old child.
