#58 Dr. llana MacDonald: Through Space and Time

Published: Jan. 11, 2021, 1:04 p.m.

Dr. Ilana MacDonald is an Astrophysicist who did her PhD at the University of Toronto. Her thesis topic was on the gravitational waves that come from binary black holes, that is, the ripples in space-time that come off of two black holes spiralling around each other. She now works in the Astronomy Department at UofT doing primarily course management, but also a lot of public outreach and education. Prior to the pandemic, Dr. Ilana designed and gave shows in their portable planetarium, and since\xa0then she has given several online talks on a variety of topics primarily through "Cosmos From Your Couch" and "Astro at Home". Her favourite things to talk about in astronomy is black holes and gravitational waves, space travel, the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, the expanding universe, how stars die, and much more. If you are an oxygen breather, you are going to LOVE this episode.\xa0\nYou can follow Dr. Illana on Twitter at: @AstroIlana\xa0\nHere are some the links to the things that Dr. Ilana has done:\nCosmos From Your Couch talk about the Voyager probes:\xa0https://youtu.be/o44h8ENNBxw\nCosmos From Your Couch panel discussion:\xa0https://youtu.be/UMG5u6d9Wf8\nAnother Cosmos From Your Couch panel discussion:\xa0https://youtu.be/TW97A8FuURE\nAstro At Home talk about scales of the universe:\xa0https://youtu.be/VcPDTeML0p4\nAstro At Home talk about gravity:\xa0https://youtu.be/rayx-vXBLw0\nCBC Kids News interview about Aliens:\xa0https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/watch-do-aliens-exist-if-so-why-havent-we-seen-them\nCBC KIds News interview about Space Travel:\xa0https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/watch-wormholes-warp-drive-and-why-space-travel-is-so-so-hard\nCBC Kids News interview about the Moon landings:\xa0https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/50-years-ago-we-landed-on-the-moon-why-do-we-care