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Mapping the universe (continued)
Mapping the universe
Along the way, Cornish met his future wife, Jamie, while she was earning her doctorate in education at Queens College of the University of Cambridge. After meeting at a party, he entertained her with tales of the bush.
He told her of grabbing emus while riding by on his dirt bike, Jamie Cornish related. He talked of waking to gunshots, knowing someone in his family had shot something he'd have to skin for supper. He explained how hard it was to sleep during koala-grunting season when males would spend all night calling to prospective mates.
"I had only been in England two weeks. I was like, 'Where are you from?'" said Jamie, who could have regaled him with her own stories as the globe-trotting daughter of an international lawyer and former Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder.
It's better to press, then step back. Your brain can process without you consciously thinking about it. Most of the problems I solve have been when I wasn't thinking about it.
--Neil Cornish |
Jamie and Neil eventually started dating, then carried on a long-distance relationship until marrying in February 2001. Since coming to MSU, Cornish became a member of the team that determined that the universe is at least 78 billion light years across, the 82nd most significant science story of 2004, according to Discover magazine. Cornish now serves on a national committee advising the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on astrophysics. He is one of the leading scientists for NASA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. Cornish led the effort earlier this year to have the MSU Gravitational Wave Astronomy Group accepted as the 42nd member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The collaboration involves 500 researchers from around the world and allows MSU researchers to use information from five observatories.
"It's very prestigious," MSU President Geoff Gamble said of MSU's selection. "To have one of our faculty members, and particularly Neil Cornish, in the group, really speaks to the quality that MSU has among its faculty and the great work that Neil is doing."
> Fall 2007 Contents
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