Dr. Ilana MacDonald is an Astrophysicist who did her PhD at the University of Toronto. Her thesis topic was on the gravitational waves that come from binary black holes, that is, the ripples in space-time that come off of two black holes spiralling around each other. She now works in the Astronomy Department at UofT doing primarily course management, but also a lot of public outreach and education. Prior to the pandemic, Dr. Ilana designed and gave shows in their portable planetarium, and since then she has given several online talks on a variety of topics primarily through "Cosmos From Your Couch" and "Astro at Home". Her favourite things to talk about in astronomy is black holes and gravitational waves, space travel, the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, the expanding universe, how stars die, and much more. If you are an oxygen breather, you are going to LOVE this episode.
You can follow Dr. Illana on Twitter at: @AstroIlana
Here are some the links to the things that Dr. Ilana has done:
Cosmos From Your Couch talk about the Voyager probes: https://youtu.be/o44h8ENNBxw
Cosmos From Your Couch panel discussion: https://youtu.be/UMG5u6d9Wf8
Another Cosmos From Your Couch panel discussion: https://youtu.be/TW97A8FuURE
Astro At Home talk about scales of the universe: https://youtu.be/VcPDTeML0p4
Astro At Home talk about gravity: https://youtu.be/rayx-vXBLw0
CBC Kids News interview about Aliens: https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/watch-do-aliens-exist-if-so-why-havent-we-seen-them
CBC KIds News interview about Space Travel: https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/watch-wormholes-warp-drive-and-why-space-travel-is-so-so-hard
CBC Kids News interview about the Moon landings: https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/50-years-ago-we-landed-on-the-moon-why-do-we-care
