The cosmic bodies have come out of their historical isolation to take centrestage in modern astrophysics, says the recipient of the inaugural young scientist award instituted by The World Academy of Sciences
Parameswaran Ajith, 40, a Bengaluru-based astrophysicist who specialises in the study of detecting gravitational waves, was chosen as the first recipient of The World Academy of Sciences-Chinese Academy of Sciences (TWAS-CAS) Young Scientist award for Frontier Science. He talks about his prize, the excitement of black holes, and about how he chose to become a scientist. Excerpts:
The award citation says you have “.pioneered a method to model the expected gravitational-wave signals from colliding binary black holes.” In layman’s terms, could you explain the principle of this method? Is it the only method for detecting wave signals or is it part of an algorithm of detection?