Avishay Gal-Yam - When black holes collide, the only thing we can d

When black holes collide, the only thing we can detect is gravitational waves, everything else is swallowed inside. But neutron stars are relatively lighter than black holes, so when they collide and merge, a small part of their mass and radiation does escape and can be detected along with gravitational waves. [We can see that] every atom of iodine on Earth, including the iodine you put on your wound, had arrived here in the distant past from a merger of neutron stars,

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Avishay Gal-Yam, Quoted in Yael Edelman, Crashing Neutron Stars Observed for the First Time Weizmann Institute scientists help confirm and analyze the star merger, Weizman Institute Press Release, 16 October 2017

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About the Author

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Born:
Nationality: Israeli
Profession: Physicist & Cosmologist

Biography

Avishay Gal-Yam Current address: Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel. Telephones: home: 972-8-9464749, work: 972-8-9342063, Fax: 972-8-9344477 e-mail: avishay.gal-yam@weizmann.ac.il Born: March 15, 1970, Israel Family status: Married + 3 Citizenship: Israeli Education 1997-2003: Ph.D., School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Advisor: Prof. Dan Maoz 1994-1996: B.Sc., Magna Cum Laude, in Physics and Mathematics, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. (1989-1993: Military service.) Positions 2013- : Head, Physics Core Facilities Unit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. 2012- : Associate Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. 2008- : Head, Kraar Observatory Program, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. 2007- : Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. 2007-2012: Senior Scientist, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. 2006-2007: Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology. 2003-2006: Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology. 1996-2003: Physics and Mathematics Research and Teaching Assistant, Tel Aviv University. Honors and Awards 2012: Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation. 2010: Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientiﬁc Research. 2010: Isreali Physical Society (IPS) Prize for a Young Physicist (shared with E. Nakar). 2010: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ARCHES Prize. 2010: Levinson Physics Prize. 2008: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Award. 2007: European Union IRG Fellow. 2006: “Citta` di Cefalu`” Prize. 2003: Hubble Fellow. 2002: Tel Aviv U. School of Physics and Astronomy award for outstanding achievements. 2000: Colton Fellow. 2000: Tel Aviv U. School of Physics and Astronomy research and teaching excellence award. 1999: European Union grant (Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme). 1997: Tel Aviv U. School of Physics and Astronomy award for academic excellence. 1996: Tel Aviv U. School of Mathematics award for outstanding teaching assistants. 1994-1996: Tel Aviv University Physics Dean honor list. 1994-1997: Member of the Tel Aviv University outstanding student program. Grants At the Weizmann Institute: • EU FP7 Marie Curie IRG grant # 209205, 2007-2011: EURO 100,000 • Weizmann Institute MINERVA small grant, 2007-2010: EURO 75,000 • French-Israeli Astrophysics Networks, Israeli Ministry of Science, 2007-2009: EURO 112,000 (with Dr. J.-P. Kneib, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Marseille, France) • Israeli Science Foundation Personal Research Grant, 2008-2012: $210,000 • Israeli Science Foundation Equipment Grant for Young Faculty, 2008-2012: $150,000 • Gruber Young Scientists Research Award, 2008-2011: $90,000 • Weizmann-UK “making connections” research fund, 2008-2010: $100,000 (with Dr. Mark Sullivan, Oxford Univ., UK) • Binational Science Foundation (BSF) Grant, 2009-2013: $120,000 (with Prof. S. Kulkarni, Caltech, USA) • Yeda-Sela (YeS) Grant, 2010: $30,000 • German-Israel Foundation (GIF) Grant, 2010-2013: $160,000 (with Prof. E. Waxman, Weizmann Institute; Prof. N. Langer, Bonn Univ., Germany; Prof. M. Kowalski, Bonn, Univ., Germany) • Weizmann Institute MINERVA grant, 2010-2013: EURO 150,000 • German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ARCHES prize, 2010-2015, Euro 200,000 (with Prof. F. Roepke, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany) • Space Infrastructure Program, Israeli Ministry of Science, 2012-2014: NIS 400,000 (with Prof. E. Waxman, Weizmann Institute; Prof. D. Maoz, Tel Aviv University) • EU FP7 ERC starting grant # 307260, 2012-2017: EURO 1,499,302 • Israeli Science Foundation Personal Research Grant, 2012-2016: $180,000 • Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation, 2012-2016: $1,000,000 • Preparations for the ULTRASAT Mission, Israeli Space Agency, 2013: NIS 600,000 (with Prof. E. Waxman, Dr. E. Ofek, Weizmann Institute) • “The Quantum Universe” I-Core Center member, 2013-2017: NIS 45,000,000 (divided among 18 members) • Weizmann Institute MINERVA grant, 2014-2016: EURO 300,000 • Weizmann-UK “Making Connection” grant, 2014-2015: $ 50,000 • Yeda-Sela (YeS) Grant, 2016: $50,000 • Foundations for Science with a UV space mission, Israeli Space Agency, 2016: NIS 600,000 (with Prof. E. Waxman, Dr. E. Ofek, Weizmann Institute) • Israeli Science Foundation Personal Research Grant, 2016-2020: $341,000 • EU ERC consolidator grant, 2017-2022 (to begin Sep. 1 2017): EURO 2,411,111 • Joint Weizmann-Texas A&M grant 2017 (with Prof. E. Ofek): $ 50,000 • Binational Science Foundation (BSF) “transformative science” grant 2017-2020 (with Prof. E. Ofek and Prof. P. Nugent, UC Berkeley): $ 300,000 At Caltech (all grants from NASA): • HST-HF-01158.01-A (Hubble Fellowship): $274,885 • HST-GO-10493: $118,302 • GALEXGI04-0026-0044: $35,000 • HST-GO-10793: $81,000 • GALEXGI06-0063: $88,000 • HST-GO-11104: $38,000 • GALEXGI07-0020: $94,000

Avishay Gal-Yam Quotes