{"520951":{"#nid":"520951","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech PhD Student Called To Meet India\u0027s Prime Minister","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not everyday a college student gets to rub elbows with world leaders, but Karan Jani isn\u2019t your typical college student.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJani, a Ph.D. candidate in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Physics, computes complex equations to determine the distance to which LIGO detectors are sensitive enough to observe black hole collisions. LIGO, or the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), is a global network working to detect gravitational waves, and confirmed their first-ever detected wave earlier this year. A black hole collision is believed to have sparked that first-detected wave.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJani has also been actively working to expand the LIGO project to his home country of India, and that\u2019s why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked to meet with him in Washington, D.C.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe mentioned in the meeting that he reads my tweets,\u201d Jani says with a smile.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe future astrophysicist takes to Twitter often to talk about his research and the LIGO Project. Prior to the discovery, he\u2019d been calculating the possibilities of gravitational waves for nine years. He was contacted by the Indian Embassy after the Indian government fast-tracked a plan to build LIGO\u2019s third observatory in their nation, the first outside the U.S.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis will be exactly identical to what LIGO has in Washington state and Louisiana,\u201d Jani explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJani says Prime Minister Modi was visibly excited about the opportunity for expanding scientific collaboration between the U.S. and India.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA leader of a nation with a billion things to think about, the fact that he made time to understand science as complicated as LIGO and gravitational waves is just so cool,\u201d Jani says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u2019s also cool? Snapping a selfie with the leader of the world\u2019s second most populous country.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI didn\u2019t even think they\u2019d let me have my phone,\u201d Jani says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen he asked the prime minister to take a photographic memento of the meeting, he was more than surprised by the response.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe was so happy, he was like \u2018Oh yeah! Sure!\u2019\u201d Jani says the prime minister even suggested they step into good lighting so the picture would turn out better.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJani admits meeting his nation\u2019s prime minister prompted a flood of emotions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI never even saw a telescope until I was a second year in college,\u201d he admits. \u201cNow I\u2019ve been a part of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of our century, and now it\u2019s coming to my country. It\u2019s very humbling.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJani also laughs about how poignant Georgia Tech\u2019s new Einstein statue is in light of the discovery, and this week\u2019s news of LIGO expanding to India. Einstein originally proposed the idea of gravitational waves one hundred years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think this is Einstein\u2019s legacy. The world\u2019s two largest democracies keeping science and technology at the forefront, and how important it is to fund fundamental science,\u0022 Jani says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlbert Einstein would be happy, Jani says.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Karan Jani helped discover gravitational waves as part of LIGO"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor nine years, Karan Jani has been testing equations to help detect gravitational waves with LIGO. After they were discovered, Jani learned that the Prime Minister of India was not only interested in meeting him, but had been following his Twitter account.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Karan Jani was asked to join with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the National Science Foundation as they forge the future of space exploration in India."}],"uid":"28058","created_gmt":"2016-04-01 18:57:06","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:14","author":"Steven Norris","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"520971":{"id":"520971","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech Student Meets Indian Prime Minister","body":null,"created":"1459789200","gmt_created":"2016-04-04 17:00:00","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Georgia Tech Student Meets Indian Prime Minister","file":{"fid":"205317","name":"screen_shot_2016-04-01_at_3.49.33_pm.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screen_shot_2016-04-01_at_3.49.33_pm_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screen_shot_2016-04-01_at_3.49.33_pm_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":553190,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/screen_shot_2016-04-01_at_3.49.33_pm_0.png?itok=AXS_5Ll5"}}},"media_ids":["520971"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"489","name":"atlanta"},{"id":"6766","name":"einstein"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"99091","name":"Gravitational waves"},{"id":"2998","name":"India"},{"id":"120161","name":"LIGO"},{"id":"171880","name":"narendra modi"},{"id":"167146","name":"space"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:snorris@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESocial Media Manager\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["snorris@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}