Background Mode

Dr. Kelly Holley-Bockelmann is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. Her research specialty is black holes and gravitational waves. For as long as she can remember, she wanted to be an astrophysicist. In our interview she tells the story about, as a teenager, lying in a field under dark Montana skies and gazing at the Milky Way (the edge of our galaxy). She wondered about all those stars and planets and whether there were other civilizations out there looking up at their own starry skies. It was transformative. Today, she uses a Mac and supercomputers to study how black holes generate ripples in the fabric of spacetime and deepen our astronomical understanding and perspective. Kelly, her students and associates are also devoted Mac users, and she tells me why.

• Kelly via email
• Kelly's home page at Vanderbilt University.
• Kelly's TED talk bio.
• Kelly's TED talk on Spacetime and Gravitational Waves.
• More information about the LIGO gravitational wave detector.

• Support TMO when you buy your Apple gear from Apple.
• The story of my Background Mode podcast.
• TMO Background Mode Twitter feed.
• Archive of all Background Mode Shows.
• Background Mode at iTunes.
• Send your comments to observations@macobserver.com or marty@macobserver.com