Astrophysics and General Relativity
Ira Wasserman
Professor of Physics and Astronomy
B.S. ,1974, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ph.D., 1978, Harvard University. Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University, 1978-79; Chaim Weizmann Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, 1979-81. Assistant Professor, Astronomy, Cornell University, 1981-87; Associate Professor, Astronomy, Cornell University, 1987-93; Professor, Astronomy, Cornell University, 1993-present. Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 1997-present. NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, 1981-82; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1984-88; Bok Prize Lecturer, Harvard University, 1989. Member, American Astronomical Society.
Research Areas
(i) Long term variation in the rotation of neutron stars, specifically neutron star precession and implications
for the physics of superfluids in their interiors
(ii) Nonlinear mode coupling in rotating neutron stars, and the saturation of the r-mode instability driven by gravitational radiation
(iii) Astronomical manifestations of remnants of string/brane inflation, particularly cosmic strings, and prospects of constraining models for the early Universe observationally
Current Research