WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s Ambassador to United States Jalil Abbas Jilani conveyed the message of facilitation to Pakistan-US scientist Nergis Mavalvala for her outstanding achievement in the field of astrophysics.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif offered his greetings to Mavalvala for being a source of inspiration for Pakistani scientists and students. Nergis Mavalvala is Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and Associate Department Head of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. She was part of an international team of scientists who have detected gravitational waves, inaugurating a new and historic era of astronomy.
“This is just the start,” she told Radio Boston about the efforts behind the detection of gravitational waves. “These detects are going to get better and we are just going to listen to more and more music from the universe,” the scientist was quoted as saying by the MIT’s official website. In a congratulatory letter addressed to Professor Mavalvala, Ambassador Jilani expressed hope that her great contribution to the world of knowledge, particularly in the field of astrophysics, would have far-reaching implications for humankind.
He highlighted that the rare scientific breakthrough achieved by her was a source of encouragement for young women in Pakistan who were making gradual strides in all walks of life for realization of their dreams. Ambassador Jilani also invited Professor Mavalvala to visit Pakistan’s premier science institutions and share her success story, which had led her to this eminent position. The embassy intended to nominate Professor Nergis for a civil award to the distinguished scientist.
The whole Pakistani nation and the Pakistani-US community in the United States have also profusely acknowledged the spectacular discovery by a scientist of Pakistani origin. Albert Einstein – often called the father of modern physics – had predicted the existence of gravitational waves almost 100 years ago. With the technology available in 1916, Einstein said waves were “vanishingly small” and nearly impossible to detect.
It was for the first time that a scientist team, of which Nergis was part of, directly observed the ripples of gravitational waves. According to a statement on the MIT’s website, the scientists went even beyond and have also decoded the gravitational wave signal and determined its source. “According to their calculation, the gravitational wave is the product of a collision between two massive black holes, 1.3 billion light years away ” a remarkably extreme event that has not been observed until now.”
