physics

Madeline Wade

Madeline Wade is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Madeline Wade rather than just read about it. In short: Madeline C. Wade is an American astrophysicist who participates in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in analyzing gravitational wave data from black hole mergers.

Key takeaways

Madeline Wade belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Madeline Wade to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Madeline Wade from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Madeline C. Wade is an American astrophysicist who participates in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in analyzing gravitational wave data from black hole mergers. She is an associate professor of physics at Kenyon College.

Education and career Wade majored in physics at Bates College, graduating with honors in 2009 under the mentorship of Eric Wollman. Her undergraduate studies also included a semester at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen. She continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she completed her Ph.D. in 2015. Her dissertation, Gravitational-wave science with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, was jointly supervised by Jolien Creighton and Xavier Siemens. She joined Kenyon College as an assistant professor of physics in 2015 and was promoted to associate professor in 2021. From 2019 to 2022 she was Harvey F. Lodish Junior Faculty Development Professor in the Natural Sciences.

Recognition Wade was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2021, after a nomination from the APS Division of Gravitational Physics, "for important contributions to and leadership of the low-latency calibration of LIGO data that played a vital role in the discovery of gravitational waves, of the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational wave transients, and to multimessenger astronomy with GW170817". She has also shared in the many honors awarded to the LIGO Collaboration, including the Princess of Asturias Award, Gruber Prize in Cosmology, and Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Personal life Wade is married to Leslie Wade, another gravitational physicist at Kenyon College.

References

External links Home page

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Madeline Wade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Madeline Wade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Madeline Wade before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Madeline Wade ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Madeline Wade

In research: Madeline Wade appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Madeline Wade in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Madeline Wade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American astrophysicists, American women astrophysicists, Bates College alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Madeline Wade outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Madeline Wade in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Madeline Wade means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Madeline Wade out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Madeline Wade in simple terms?

Madeline C. Wade is an American astrophysicist who participates in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in analyzing gravitational wave data from black hole mergers.

Why does Madeline Wade matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Madeline Wade?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Madeline Wade.