Professor Stephen Fairhurst
(he/him)

: Media commentator
: Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Stephen Fairhurst

Professor
Gravity Exploration Institute
School of Physics and Astronomy

The goal of my work is to use gravitational-wave observations to probe the astrophysics and fundamental physics of black holes and neutron stars. I have been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since 2003 and was involved in the first observation of gravitational waves, GW150914 and the joint observation of gravitational-waves and light, GW170817. In March 2025, I was elected Spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

Date
Type

2000

Ashtekar, A. et al., 2000. Generic isolated horizons and their applications. Physical Review Letters 85 (17), pp.3564-3567. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.3564)
Ashtekar, A. , Beetle, C. and Fairhurst, S. 2000. Mechanics of isolated horizons. Classical and Quantum Gravity 17 (2), pp.253-298. (10.1088/0264-9381/17/2/301)
Ashtekar, A. , Fairhurst, S. and Krishnan, B. 2000. Isolated horizons: Hamiltonian evolution and the first law. Physical Review D 62 (10) 104025. (10.1103/PhysRevD.62.104025)

1999

Ashtekar, A. , Beetle, C. and Fairhurst, S. 1999. Isolated horizons: a generalization of black hole mechanics. Classical and Quantum Gravity 16 (2), pp.L1-L7. (10.1088/0264-9381/16/2/027)

My research focuses on identifying gravitational wave signals emitted by merging black holes and neutron stars, and using the observed signals to understand the properties of the sources.

I am an active member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and am involved in analyzing the data from the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA gravitational wave observatories. In September 2015, we made the first detection of gravitational wave from the merger of two black holes, GW150914. Subsequently, we have detected several hundred black hole binary mergers and also the merger of two neutron stars, GW170817, which was also observed as a Gamma Ray Burst and kilonova.

I supervise and assess 3rd and 4th Year and MSc Project Students. I am a personal tutor for years 1 to 4.

I currently teach the 20-credit year 3 undergraduate course on Particle Physics and Special Relativity.

Previous module organiser for:

Year 1: Computational Skills for Problem Solving
Year 4: Advanced General Relativity and Gravitational Waves

I obtained a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1995, and an MMath in 1996. I obtained my PhD in Physics from Penn State University in 2001, supervised by Prof Abhay Ashtekar. My doctoral research focused on the properties of black hole horizons. Following my PhD, I was a Killam postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta and subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and a visiting associate at the California Institute of technology. I joined the Cardiff University as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 2007, and was promoted to Professor in 2016.

Since 2003, my research has focused on gravitational-wave astrophysics, with a focus on identifying and interpreting signals emitted by merging neutron stars and/or black holes. I currently serve as the Spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (https://ligo.org/)

Honours and awards

Breakthrough award in Fundamental Science 2016 (awarded to LIGO & Virgo Collaborations [LVC])
Grubber Cosmology Award (awarded to LVC) 2016
Royal Society University Research Fellowship 2007 – 2014
Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship 2001 – 2003
Canadian Institute of Theoretical Physics National Fellow
Tyson Medal, University of Cambridge

Professional memberships

Member of the Institute of Physics
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

Academic positions

2016 - present: Professor, Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy
2014 - 16: Reader, Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy
2007 - 14: Royal Society University Research Fellow, Cardiff University
2006 - 07: Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology
2003 - 06: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
2001 - 03: Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alberta 2001 – 2003

Committees and reviewing

Royal Society University Research Fellowship Panel
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Particle Astrophysics Advisory Panel chair
STFC Computing Advisory Panel chair
Quantum Technology in Fundamental Physics grant panel

I have also served on various national and international research evaluation panels including for Universities and agencies in Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA.