Lisa Barsotti is a principal

research scientist A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Kavli Institute The Kavli Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, is a foundation that supports the advancement of science and the increase of public understanding and support for scientists and their work. The Kavli Foundation was established in Decem ...

at the LIGO Laboratory, beginning her career in 2010.

Biography

Barsotti was born June 1,1978 and was raised in Pisa, Italy. She obtained her PhD in

applied physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination of fac ...

from

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

in 2006 on ''The control of the

Virgo interferometer The Virgo interferometer is a large-scale scientific instrument near Pisa, Italy, for detecting gravitational waves. The detector is a Michelson interferometer, which can detect the minuscule length variations in its two arms induced by the p ...

for

gravitational wave Gravitational waves are oscillations of the gravitational field that Wave propagation, travel through space at the speed of light; they are generated by the relative motion of gravity, gravitating masses. They were proposed by Oliver Heaviside i ...

detection'' and moved to the United States in 2007 to work on the

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Prior to LIG ...

(LIGO). Barsotti was involved in the discovery of gravitational waves reported in 2016. She currently investigates technology to improve

gravitational wave detection Gravitational-wave astronomy is a subfield of astronomy concerned with the detection and study of gravitational waves emitted by astrophysical sources. Gravitational waves are minute distortions or ripples in spacetime caused by the acceleration ...

using squeezed states of life, which led an upgrade to LIGO in 2017, known as

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

. Main themes of her work include astronomy, remote sensing, optics, interferometry, laser,

electric field An electric field (sometimes called E-field) is a field (physics), physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles such as electrons. In classical electromagnetism, the electric field of a single charge (or group of charges) descri ...

, and sensitivity. Reflecting on her work, she has expressed that, even in the years before detections were made, she found fulfillment in the challenge of utilizing highly sophisticated instruments and contributing to the understanding of Einstein’s Theory of

General Relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity, and as Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of grav ...

. She admires the hard work and diverse knowledge of those she's worked with. She views the prize as a recognition of the collective efforts of scientists worldwide who have pushed the boundaries of gravitational wave research.

Honors and awards

*2018 –

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

for "extraordinary leadership in commissioning the Advanced LIGO detectors, improving their sensitivity through implementation of squeezed light, and enhancing the operation of the gravitational wave detector network through joint run planning between LIGO and Virgo" *2019 –

Breakthrough Breakthrough or break through may refer to: Arts Books * ''Break Through'' (book), a 2007 book about environmentalism by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger * ''Break Through'' (play), a 2011 episodic play portraying scenes from LGBT life * ...

New Horizons in Physics Prize The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture capita ...

*2019 – Capperuccio Prize of the city of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

*2021 – One of InspiringFifty in Italy *2022 - Research.com Best Female Scientist Award *2023 - Research.com Best Female Scientist Award *2024 - Research.com Best Female Scientist Award

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

* *
Lisa Barsotti, "The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy"
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otkHkdy4wQ4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Barsotti, Lisa Living people Fellows of the American Physical Society University of Pisa alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Gravitational-wave astrophysicists Women physicists Year of birth missing (living people)