Robert Ward

Robert Ward is a physicist who has been using lasers to study black holes since 2003, when he joined the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Caltech as a PhD student. There he worked on a small prototype interferometer (only 40 metres long!), proving that Advanced LIGO could work and searching the LIGO data for background noise in gravitational waves from the Big Bang. After a stint in Paris, he became a Research Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU).

At ANU, Robert works on technology development for gravitational wave detection, including manipulating the “quantum vacuum” and finding ways to mitigate gravitational noise on Earth. He’s also worked on precision measurement in satellite technology and the development of methods and techniques for locating and pushing space junk with lasers. He is an author of over 160 peer reviewed publications, likes gardening, drinking craft beer, and metalworking.