Dr. Elisa Maggio
Postdoctoral researcher in the “Astrophysical and Cosmological Relativity” department
What is your current position at our institute?
I'm a postdoctoral researcher in the Astrophysical and Cosmological Relativity department.
How and when did you choose to do physics?
I chose to do physics in my last year of high school after reading a lot of books by Stephen Hawking.
What were your previous academic positions?
- 2011-2014: Bachelor Degree in Physics, Sapienza University of Rome
- 2014-2016: Master Degree in Theoretical Physics, Sapienza University of Rome
- Summer 2015: INFN-NSF/LIGO Summer Exchange Student, California Institute of Technology
- 2017-2018: Student in Applied Mathematics, University of Sheffield
- 2018-2021: PhD Student in Physics, Sapienza University of Rome
How would you describe your research to scientist from other fields?
My research is focused on tests of gravity in the strong-field regime with gravitational-wave observations. I work on tests of the nature of the black holes by modeling the gravitational waveform emitted by compact binary coalescences.
Do you have a favourite figure from a paper you (co-)authored?
The figure shows how the gravitational waveform changes with respect to the black hole case when the remnant of a compact binary coalescence is horizonless. The waveform is characterised by the extra emission of a modulated train of gravitational wave echoes (top panel) or modifications in the prompt ringdown (bottom panel).
Why did you choose the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics for your research?
I chose the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics because the research group is stimulating and has a variety of expertise.
What would you recommend to a young woman wanting to start a career in physics?
I would recommend to a young woman in physics to be open to all the opportunities in research and choose her own path independently.