Blackfoot poetry: from Einstein to spacetime – Public lecture by Dr. Corey Gray

Gravitational wave astronomy involves people from around the world, all with their our own stories. Dr. Corey Gray, Caltech, is a member of the Siksika Nation (Northern Blackfoot tribe of Alberta) and Scottish. He is the lead operator at the Hanford Observatory of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory. In this hour-long public lecture, Dr. Gray presents a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s been like working at a land-based gravitational wave detector since 1998. He will share a “Top 3” list of his favorite detections as well as the experience of a son having the opportunity to recruit his mother to work with him because of language—the language of spacetime and the Blackfoot people.

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration made big news in 2016 by announcing what has been hailed as “the scientific breakthrough of the century:” the first direct detection of gravitational waves. This was a monumental discovery because it proved a prediction made 100 years earlier by Albert Einstein. LIGO has made many more detections over the years. These detections mark the beginning of a completely new field of science: gravitational wave astronomy.

Dr. Corey received his Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and applied mathematics from Humboldt State University in northern California. After graduation, he was hired as a detector operator by the California Institute of Technology to work for the LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington state. As a member of the LIGO team, Corey’s work has included working with groups to help build the gravitational wave detector and also operating the detector as a member of the operator team.

He also enjoys outreach & science communication. Over the years he has given keynotes, plenary talks, public colloquia, conference panel sessions, and also a TEDx talk. His speaking engagements have taken him from Banff to Orlando, Montreal to Honolulu and many points in between. He especially loves to share the science of Einstein with Indigenous youth and other underrepresented groups.

For information about the Fermilab Arts and Lecture Series, please visit:

[portuguesepossum]

I could have watched this for 100 more hours! I was absolutely moved to tears at moments. Thank you for sharing this with us 🙏🏼

[AmazingDroneShow]

It's like putting your ear to the ground and hearing the universe. Very cool.

[leedickinson]

This was just an awesome lecture. I hope more people take the opportunity to listen.

[kilimanjarocruz]

Thank you, Dr. Gray. What a beautiful story you told about you, your mother, science and tradition!

[obes]

thank you, This will heal our hemisphere <3 Be Peace

[martinpollard]

Brilliant, truly outstanding talk. And "she's basically a code talker for astrophysics", brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Dr. Corey Gray and thanks to your beautiful mother.

[mortimas]

Why don't they just give them as much time as they want? Could have watched him for another couple hours. Great talk. Thank you.

[virajjoshi]

That night's Chirp reveals the Great minds behind it..!!! For a year I feel the essence of that thing which is speechless but I had tried to express in words..!!

[Scouse]

Wonderful presentation which had my attention from start to finish. Apologising for over-running? I was disappointed when it ended.

[virajjoshi]

Sir, very nice to listen you and perticularaly the thing you had come across the G-wave at night, for a moment I also feel the Divine experience...For comparison Heisenberg had found Uncertainty practically around same time and EPR trio aslo had found lost needle in their lab during very controversial results of communication of atomic & subatomic particles...!!!

[pdelong]

Ah *man*, you got my hopes up there, right before 4:41. I'm still going to watch the rest, of-course. Looks super interesting even without equations.

[jon]

whats going on with the comments? is there something im missing? an hour-long lecture on LIGO doesn't seem like something that would attract this many obnoxious comments...

[virajjoshi]

It's very surprising fact that Gravitons maintain the information for such vast time period properly..🤔🤔🤔
By the way Sir JWST image of many galaxies had reveal the advancement of technology & it's nice to see the how photons though converted into infra ray but maintain the originality of Information irrespective of travelling through the fabric of universe..Give very nice feeling with many questions in mind for future development...Again very very nice lecture & thank you for such divine experience 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[virajjoshi]

Good evening Sir, How are you?
It's really nice to listen your experience of Lab during Gravitational waves capture & analysis. I have curiosity to know about that 1)How during the course of expansion of Universe the metals heaviour than H2 & He2 of periodic table retain their identity in terms of spectral lines? 2)Whether there is Photon-Graviton interaction to maintain this identity in terms of Energy?
See you again.. 🙏🙏🙏

[jballenger]

OUTSTANDING!!!! Many thanks. Creating the path for others. No greater gift. "A Code Talker for Astrophyics", great title for a biography. Thank you both.

[naveensrivastva]

Study yogvasisth an indian book where rishis were in parallel universes where results were different of Ramayan really awesome ancient book

[MrYukon]

I thought finding the Higgs boson was the breakthrough of the

[josepdalmauanglada]

To the Infinity Lux and Thank you sirs

[momosaidnineisfine]

That selfish boy from Lazy Town very much became a great man I see !

[smlankau]

We can learn a lot of things from history. So we should not try to hide the true history. Einstein was correct about the curvature of space that can interact and make waves in space, but if that curvature is a result of a quantum force that can increase the density of space, then that gravitational wave is a space wave that originated on the quantum gravitational force. And if the elementary particles like neutrinos generate the gravitational force then neutrinos can make a counter gravity on each object after going through that object. And that process can hold the objects in space at the same place for a long time. If neutrinos can eat the space then that can happen. That is what my calculations show to me. Just don't ignore that possibility. And according to that possibility, Black Holes emit those elementary particles. And if some neutrinos are invisible then it is difficult to calculate the quantum impact of that force. I think that can help us to explain the bouncing nature of the universe, and that can change the theory about the Big Bang too. Thank you.