CV
- 1998 B.S. Physics, University of Florida (worked with David Reitze on LIGO optics)
- 2004 Ph.D. Physics, MIT (advisor: Rainer Weiss). Thesis: Sensitivity and Noise Analysis of 4 km Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Antennae
- 2004 Postdoctoral Scholar, Caltech
- 2006 Assistant Professor of Physics, Caltech
- 2012 Professor of Physics, Caltech (tenured)
- 2012– Adjunct Faculty, ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru
Member of IQIM and QSE at Caltech. Research: precision measurement, gravitational-wave detection, quantum measurement, detector design.
Awards & Honors
New Horizons in Physics Prize (2019) — with Lisa Barsotti & Matthew Evans, for research on present and future LIGO detectors.
Special Breakthrough Prize (2016) — shared with the LIGO team for the first detection of gravitational waves.
Special Breakthrough Prize (2016) — shared with the LIGO team for the first detection of gravitational waves.
- 2005 Inaugural LIGO Thesis Prize
- ~2010 Caltech Graduate Student Mentoring Award
- 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (shared, LIGO team)
- 2018 Fellow, American Physical Society
- 2019 New Horizons in Physics Prize (with Lisa Barsotti & Matthew Evans)
Film & Television
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | NOVA: "Decoding the Universe: Quantum" (PBS) | Self — Caltech |
| 2022 | Rendezvous with the Future: "First Contact" (with Liu Cixin; 92M viewers) | Self |
| 2019 | LIGO: The Way the Universe Is, I Think | Self — Subject |
| 2018 | How the Universe Works: "Mystery of Spacetime" (S6E10) | Self |
| 2017 | Singularity Song (short film) | Self (voice) |
About "LIGO: The Way the Universe Is, I Think"
A documentary about Adhikari, directed by Currimbhoy, McCarthy, and Pedri. It screened at DOC NYC, SF DocFest, RAW Science Film Festival, and Cineglobe at CERN. Reviewed by CERN Courier.About "Singularity Song"
A short film directed by Rachel Mason, with cinematography by Halyna Hutchins. Features butoh dancer Oguri, with music by Carla Bozulich and Anna Homler. Part of Mason's "The Moving Mountain" project.Art & Creative Work
- 2019 Free Radicals: On the Provocations of Awe — ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena.
- 2017 "Untitled" environmental sensing sculpture — Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, "Limits of Knowing" exhibition. A 30×30×130 cm jellyfish-shaped mixed-media piece that senses vibrations, sound, temperature, magnetic fields, and infrared light.
Talks & Colloquia
| Date | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | Listening to the Silence (keynote, with Kip Thorne) | GW251010, Caltech |
| Oct 2025 | The Angst and Ennui of Measuring Zero (keynote) | Scialog, Tucson |
| Sep 2025 | Machines Learning to Make Better Experiments | UC Berkeley / BIDMaP |
| Aug 2021 | The Technology of Gravitational-Wave Detectors | ICTS-TIFR (TCF 2021) |
| Jun 2018 | 3G Detectors, Voyager | Perimeter Institute |
| Mar 2016 | Listening to the Thunder of Gravity in the Cosmos (Watson Lecture) | Beckman Auditorium, Caltech |
| Feb 2016 | On the Measurement of GWs from the Merger of Two Black Holes | Stanford / KIPAC |
| Dec 2013 | ICTS Winter School on Experimental GW Physics (9 lectures) | ICTS-TIFR / RRCAT Indore |
| Dec 2012 | Turning On and Tuning In the Gravitational Radiation Antennae | CaJAGWR, Caltech |
| Aug 2011 | Seminar | TIFR, Mumbai |
| Mar 2006 | Tuning LIGO to Listen to Gravitational Waves | CaJAGWR, Caltech |
| Dec 2004 | Sensitivity Improvements in the LIGO Interferometers | CaJAGWR, Caltech |
| — | Gravitational Wave Detection Using LIGO | IIT Delhi (date unknown) |
Press & Media
Authored Writing
- 2016 "Birthday Black Holes" — HuffPost
Major Features
- 2026 "#SoCaltech: Rana Adhikari" — Caltech Magazine
- 2019 "Rana Adhikari Designs the Future of Gravitational-Wave Detectors" — Caltech Breakthrough
- "Inside Look: What Physics Professor Rana Adhikari Keeps in His Office" — Caltech Magazine
- "Thought and Practice" (with Kathryn Zurek) — Caltech Magazine
- 2013 "Building the World's Most Sensitive Detectors" — Caltech News / Phys.org
Video Features
- 2017 "The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves" — Veritasium
- "How LIGO Uses Quantum Sensors" — Caltech Science Exchange
- "Ask a Caltech Expert: Quantum Gravity" (with Zurek) — Caltech Science Exchange
Podcasts
- 2025 SparX by Mukesh Bansal: "The Real Science Behind Interstellar"
- 2019 iHeart "The Good, the Bad, and the Science": "Men in Black" with Karah Preiss
- 2017 Y Combinator Podcast #35: "The Technical Challenges of Measuring Gravitational Waves"
- Pioneer Works Scientific Controversies No. 27: "To Mars!" — with Christopher Mason & Janna Levin
Interviews
- 2022 Scientific Inquirer "The Exchange": Tex Crick & Rana Adhikari on time travel and music in 4D
- CERN Courier review of LIGO documentary
AI & LIGO Press (2025)
- "Artificial Intelligence Helps Boost LIGO" — Caltech News, LIGO Lab
- "Using AI to perceive the universe in greater depth" — Google DeepMind Blog
- "LIGO and Google create a new AI tool" — GeekWire
LIGO-India Press
- "India's planned LIGO could shift the center of the physics world" — Quartz India
- "India Approves Construction of Its Own LIGO" — Caltech News
Awards Press
- "Indian American Rana Adhikari wins 'Oscar of Science' Breakthrough Prize" — News India Times
- Caltech, ICTS, and IndIGO announcements of New Horizons Prize
Service & Outreach
- Infosys Prize jury — Physical Sciences (2020, 2022)
- SURF mentoring — Kavli-LIGO Fellows program, international students
- Caltech Science Exchange expert contributor