Beverly Berger
Beverly K. Berger is an American physicist known for her work on gravitational physics, especially gravitational waves, gravitons, and gravitational singularities.[1] Alongside Berger's more serious physics research, she is also known for noticing that vibrational patterns caused by local ravens were interfering with observations at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.[2]
Education and career
Berger completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1972. Her dissertation, A Cosmological Model Illustrating Particle Creation through Graviton Production, was supervised by Charles W. Misner.[3]
Long a professor of physics at Oakland University,[4][1] she also worked for over ten years as a program officer for general relativity and gravitation at the National Science Foundation before retiring in 2012.[5] She is a visiting scholar in the LIGO collaboration at Stanford University.[6]
Service
Within the American Physical Society (APS), Berger was instrumental in founding the Topical Group on Gravitation, later to become the Division of Gravitational Physics.[1] She was its first chair, in 1996, and served as chair again in 2014–2015.[7] She also chaired the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics in 2000.[8]
Berger has been secretary of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation since 2010,[9] and has represented the US at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.[10]
Books
With Abhay Ashtekar, James A. Isenberg, and Malcolm MacCallum, Berger is co-editor of the book General Relativity and Gravitation: A Centennial Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2015).[11][12]
The American Astronomical Society and IOP Publishing have announced the book Vignettes from General Relativity by Berger as expected to be published in 2021.[13]
Recognition
In 1983, the National Science Foundation awarded Berger a Visiting
Professorship for Women in Science and Engineering.
References
- ^ a b c d APS Fellows Nominated by DGRAV: 1998, APS Division of Gravitational Physics, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ Doughton, Sandi (May 14, 2018), "Ripples in space-time or 3-pound bird? Ravens at Hanford foul test of Einstein's theory", Seattle Times
- ^ Beverly Berger at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ hdl:10323/736
- ^ a b "Community Recognizes Beverly Berger", APS News, 21 (5), American Physical Society, May 2012, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ "Beverly Berger", Humans of LIGO, September 14, 2018. See also "Beverly Berger", LIGO Group, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ Past Executive Committees, APS Division of Gravitational Physics, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ Past Chairs, APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ GRG Society History, International Society on General Relativity & Gravitation, retrieved 2020-07-15
- ^ OSU Physics Professor Heidi Schellman chosen as Chair of IUPAP Commission C11, Oregon State University, October 15, 2017, retrieved 2020-07-15
- JSTOR 43671547
- S2CID 125017462
- ^ AAS-IOP Astronomy, IOP Publishing, retrieved 2020-07-15
External links
- Beverly Berger publications indexed by Google Scholar