The precise effects of lensing depend on the mass of the lens, the structure of space-time, and the relative distance between us, the lens, and the distant object behind it. It's like a magnifying glass, where the image you get depends on the shape of the lens and how far you hold it from the object you're looking at.

Priyamvada Natarajan

Categorized in : You Looking Behind Distance

If you know the shape of the lens and the image you get, you can work out the path that light followed between the object and your eye.

Priyamvada Natarajan

you light path work

Mental discipline and tenacity in the face of obstacles are traits that have greatly helped me in both my personal and professional journey thus far. I am also very optimistic by nature and tend to focus on the positive and remain hopeful when faced with adversity.

Priyamvada Natarajan

me nature journey positive

We cannot decide on the efficacy of a medical treatment by counting the number of 'Likes' an intervention receives on Facebook; no matter what, professionals will still need to conduct continued clinical trials and evaluate their outcomes carefully.

Priyamvada Natarajan

need will medical matter

Data suggest that central black holes might play an important role in adjusting how many stars form in the galaxies they inhabit. For one thing, the energy produced when matter falls into the black hole may heat up the surrounding gas at the center of the galaxy, thus preventing cooling and halting star formation.

Priyamvada Natarajan

black stars energy matter

We already have a pretty good knowledge of the universe's mass-energy content, so if we can get a handle on its geometry, then we will be able to work out exactly what the fate of the universe will be.

Priyamvada Natarajan

good universe work knowledge

In addition to a well-funded school system, we need to encourage and exploit innovative approaches for learning outside the classroom.

Priyamvada Natarajan

need classroom learning school

The pace and demands in any field, be it genetics, nanotechnology or cosmology, can only be met with increased international cooperation and collaborative projects.

Priyamvada Natarajan

only genetics cooperation pace

My students may have dexterity with the equations they're required to know, but they lack the capacity to apply their knowledge to real-life problems. This critical shortcoming appears in high school and possibly in elementary grades - long before college.

Priyamvada Natarajan

problems long knowledge school

The geometry, the content, and the fate of the universe are all intricately linked. If you know two, you can deduce the third.

Priyamvada Natarajan

know you fate universe

I am obsessed with trying to understand why there is such rampant denialism of science in our country. I find this exuberant irrationalism extremely disturbing. And this is particularly troubling, because I am a professional scientist.

Priyamvada Natarajan

i-am understand science country

The deep fascination with the mysterious, and the impulse to seek and locate ourselves in the cosmic context, seems to be imprinted in our DNA and psyches.

Priyamvada Natarajan

seek dna deep mysterious

All the particles that we are made of only account for about four per cent of the cosmic inventory.

Priyamvada Natarajan

about only four made

My own day-to-day observations confirm that many Americans can barely make change. At the supermarket where I buy groceries, I've watched more than one encounter at the cash register where both customer and clerk are befuddled at the prospect of double-checking the sums.

Priyamvada Natarajan

customer own my-own change

No one wants to walk across a crowd-sourced bridge.

Priyamvada Natarajan

across bridge wants walk

We need to make sure that the Voyager probes carrying a record of human civilization speeding beyond our solar system remain an introduction to the world that sent them and not an epitaph for a civilization that caused its own ruin.

Priyamvada Natarajan

beyond need own world

Finding the first seed black holes could help reveal how the relation between black holes and their host galaxies evolved over time.

Priyamvada Natarajan

seed finding black time

Black holes are enigmatic astronomical objects, areas where the gravity is so immense that it has warped spacetime so that not even light can escape.

Priyamvada Natarajan

escape gravity black light

I am a professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, where I teach an introductory class in cosmology. I see the deficiencies that first-year students show up with.

Priyamvada Natarajan

i-am see university physics

Growing up in Delhi, India, I did puzzles, explored numbers, and searched for patterns in everyday settings long before I ever saw an equation.

Priyamvada Natarajan

growing-up india numbers long

Perhaps more than English or history, STEM subjects require an enormous amount of foundational learning before students can become competent.

Priyamvada Natarajan

more learning students history