OzGrav

  • Home
  • About
    • Vision & Mission
    • Join OzGrav
    • Mental Health and Wellbeing
    • Getting started in OzGrav
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Code of Conduct
    • OzGrav Mentoring Program
    • Nodes & Partners
    • Facilities & Capabilities
    • Reports >
      • Annual Reports
      • Industry Success Stories
      • Strategic Plan
    • Member resources
  • Our People
    • Chief Investigators
    • Partner Investigators
    • Associate Investigators
    • Postdocs and Students >
      • Faces of OzGrav
    • Professional & Outreach staff
    • Governance Advisory Committee
    • Scientific Advisory Committee
    • Executive Committee
    • Equity & Diversity Committee
    • Early Career Researcher Committee
    • Professional Development Committee
    • Research Translation Committee
    • OzGrav Alumni
  • Research Themes
    • Instrumentation
    • Data/Astro
  • Education and Outreach
  • Events
    • OzFink workshop 2023
    • 2022 OzGrav ECR Workshop and Annual Retreat
    • Upcoming and Past Events
  • News/Media
    • News
    • Newsletter
    • How to write a research brief
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • Vision & Mission
    • Join OzGrav
    • Mental Health and Wellbeing
    • Getting started in OzGrav
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Code of Conduct
    • OzGrav Mentoring Program
    • Nodes & Partners
    • Facilities & Capabilities
    • Reports >
      • Annual Reports
      • Industry Success Stories
      • Strategic Plan
    • Member resources
  • Our People
    • Chief Investigators
    • Partner Investigators
    • Associate Investigators
    • Postdocs and Students >
      • Faces of OzGrav
    • Professional & Outreach staff
    • Governance Advisory Committee
    • Scientific Advisory Committee
    • Executive Committee
    • Equity & Diversity Committee
    • Early Career Researcher Committee
    • Professional Development Committee
    • Research Translation Committee
    • OzGrav Alumni
  • Research Themes
    • Instrumentation
    • Data/Astro
  • Education and Outreach
  • Events
    • OzFink workshop 2023
    • 2022 OzGrav ECR Workshop and Annual Retreat
    • Upcoming and Past Events
  • News/Media
    • News
    • Newsletter
    • How to write a research brief
  • Contact Us

Faces of ozgrav

JORIS VINCENT van HEIJNINGEN

18/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
My first University experience was not physics, but aerospace engineering. To summarise, material science seemed most interesting to me, so after one year I switched to the stuff we do and love. My first long project was in nuclear physics, specifically in perturbed angular correlation of radioactive isotopes in the reactor institute of Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. We used the effect of the environment (e.g. acidity level) on the timing of cascade gamma emission of those isotopes to probe said environment. Next was particle physics and I was lucky enough to do a project on optical alignment of future linear accelerators at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

After a short project at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) on Silicon microstrip detectors for X-ray free electron diffraction experiments, I started a PhD at Nikhef in Amsterdam. There I worked for Virgo and the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA), while developing an interferometric readout of a Watt linkage type accelerometer. This was a great experience and, as we all know, ‘well timed’ (or, I was lucky once again). It gave me ample opportunities for outreach that led to 10+ public seminars and a national TV appearance in the Netherlands!
​
In June 2016, a few months after the first gravitational wave detection was announced, a Dutch TV crew flew to Pisa, Italy, to shoot an episode for Klokhuis—a Dutch children’s TV show. Explaining the story of gravitational waves to our target group (8-12-year-old children) was challenging, but I like to think we did a good job. Our script was presented to perfection by the presenter, and I even got a few seconds of fame as the ‘physics expert’. Growing up watching Klokhuis every day, so this meant a lot to me. The show was aired in February 2017, and a few months later I was pointed to a tweet by a Belgian professor. He praised the ‘excellent’ show, but the biggest compliment of all was the drawing he posted there by his 10-year-old child depicting the concepts we had explained in the episode!
​
My next goal is to help design, fund and build the 3rd generation of gravitational wave detectors. In addition to the opportunity to study OzHF where we push a 2.5 G high frequency detector to a good position, I would love to work on the Einstein Telescope or Cosmic Explorer. The future is bright for our field; I hope to benefit from the momentum and hope that we’ll ‘never stop listening’!

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Debatri Chattopadhyay
    Garry Foran
    Igor Andreoni
    Jielai Zhang
    Joris Vincent Van Heijningen
    Joshua McCann
    Letizia Sammut
    Magdalena Kersting
    Manoj Kovalam
    Nutsinee Kjbunchoo
    Rahul Choudhary
    Sofia Suvorova
    Vaishali Adya

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
We acknowledge and pay respects to the Elders and Traditional Owners of the land on which our six Australian nodes stand

​© 2022   The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational  Wave Discovery (OzGrav)
Banner images: An artist's impression of gravitational waves generated by binary neutron stars.  Credits: R. Hurt/Caltech-JPL
Picture