physics

Maura McLaughlin

Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin rather than just read about it. In short: Maura Ann McLaughlin (born 1972) is an astrophysics professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia known for her work on fast radio bursts (FRBs). Education McLaughlin grew up in Oreland, Pennsylvania.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Maura Ann McLaughlin (born 1972) is an astrophysics professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia known for her work on fast radio bursts (FRBs).

Education McLaughlin grew up in Oreland, Pennsylvania. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1994. She obtained a PhD in Astronomy and Space Sciences from Cornell University in 2001 advised by James M. Cordes.

Career and research McLaughlin is known for her work on furthering the research on gravitational waves and for her dedication to the Pulsar Search Collaboratory. As of 2024 McLaughlin is a professor in Astronomy and Physics at West Virginia University. McLaughlin served as chair of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration. The team was originally funded by a 6.5 million dollar award given to them by the National Science Foundation as part of the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program and is now an National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics Frontier Center. McLaughlin was also fundamental in the discovery of the double-pulsar system as well as in the discovery of several new pulsars. McLaughlin dedicates her time to the Pulsar Search Collaboratory located in Green Bank, West Virginia. The Pulsar Search Collaboratory involves high school students in a collaborative effort with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) to further information and discover new pulsars. McLaughlin conducts her research on pulsars using the Green Bank Telescope, the Arecibo Observatory and previously the Jodrell Bank Observatory at the University of Manchester.

Awards and honors McLaughlin was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2024. Other awards and honours include:

Cottrell Scholar Award Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship PIRE Program Award In 2023 she was awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy for co-discovery of FRBs

Personal life McLaughlin is married to Duncan Lorimer, a physics professor also at West Virginia University, with whom she has three children.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maura McLaughlin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin

In research: Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin 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: Maura McLaughlin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1972 births, American astrophysicists, American women astrophysicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Maura McLaughlin in simple terms?

Maura Ann McLaughlin (born 1972) is an astrophysics professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia known for her work on fast radio bursts (FRBs). Education McLaughlin grew up in Oreland, Pennsylvania.

Why does Maura McLaughlin 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 Maura McLaughlin?

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 Maura McLaughlin.