Backdrop: Laser Interferometer Gravitational Syracuse University

By Lauren Tousignant : Photos by Deanna Smith

Duncan Brown wants to answer the human race’s most thought-provoking questions.

”Everybody wants to know: ‘Where do we come from?’ and ‘Where are we going?,’ which is why physics and astronomy exist,” says Brown, an associate physics professor at Syracuse University. That knowledge could lie in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational- Wave Observatory, a groundbreaking endeavor. Brown likens the science to the idea that humankind has, until now, been walking around with earplugs in. He says the detection of gravitational waves will help explain some of the most complex aspects of the universe, from black holes to the Big Bang theory.