Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
@tiffanynichols.bsky.social
LSST-DA Catalyst Faculty Fellow
History of Astrophysics, Physics, and Science + Environmental History.
History of Astrophysics, Physics, and Science + Environmental History.
Pinned
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
Finding sites for precision instruments, especially in LIGO's case, is no easy task. My article on LIGO's consideration of placing part of their broadband gravitational wave detector in the Blueberry Barrens of Maine is now available in @isisjournal.bsky.social! #histstem #hps #gravitationalwaves
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Heads up, #humanities scholars! @ransomcenter.bsky.social is hosting an online info session about our 2026-27 research fellowships.
Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process.
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚
Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process.
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚
September 25, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Heads up, #humanities scholars! @ransomcenter.bsky.social is hosting an online info session about our 2026-27 research fellowships.
Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process.
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚
Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process.
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚
This is tough news. Rai touched so many lives and cultivated a new way of knowing the universe! As I was working on my PhD, he answered every email--literally, was incredibly generous with his time, a huge supporter of the history of science, and so much more.
Rainer Weiss, Who Gave a Nod to Einstein and the Big Bang, Dies at 92
www.nytimes.com
August 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
This is tough news. Rai touched so many lives and cultivated a new way of knowing the universe! As I was working on my PhD, he answered every email--literally, was incredibly generous with his time, a huge supporter of the history of science, and so much more.
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Great read for anyone interested in relationships between big science projects, science policy, and land/landscapes.
In this week's history newsletter from AIP, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social spotlights the new article by @tiffanynichols.bsky.social in Isis, digging into the rise and fall of an early proposal to site a @ligo.org detector in Maine's Blueberry Barrens.
Article spotlight: When LIGO might have been in Maine
AIP History Weekly Edition: August 22, 2025
www.aip.org
August 22, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Great read for anyone interested in relationships between big science projects, science policy, and land/landscapes.
Huge thank you to AIP (@aip.bsky.social) History and Rebecca Charbonneau (@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social) for spotlighting my latest article! 🤩 #ligo #physics #history #histstem
In this week's history newsletter from AIP, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social spotlights the new article by @tiffanynichols.bsky.social in Isis, digging into the rise and fall of an early proposal to site a @ligo.org detector in Maine's Blueberry Barrens.
Article spotlight: When LIGO might have been in Maine
AIP History Weekly Edition: August 22, 2025
www.aip.org
August 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Huge thank you to AIP (@aip.bsky.social) History and Rebecca Charbonneau (@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social) for spotlighting my latest article! 🤩 #ligo #physics #history #histstem
Finding sites for precision instruments, especially in LIGO's case, is no easy task. My article on LIGO's consideration of placing part of their broadband gravitational wave detector in the Blueberry Barrens of Maine is now available in @isisjournal.bsky.social! #histstem #hps #gravitationalwaves
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
August 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Finding sites for precision instruments, especially in LIGO's case, is no easy task. My article on LIGO's consideration of placing part of their broadband gravitational wave detector in the Blueberry Barrens of Maine is now available in @isisjournal.bsky.social! #histstem #hps #gravitationalwaves
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Thanks to Donald Salisbury for the invitation to write a piece on the crisis in American science for the APS FHPP Newsletter. This time I interviewed four colleagues on their areas of expertise. My heartfelt thanks to all.
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com
August 5, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Thanks to Donald Salisbury for the invitation to write a piece on the crisis in American science for the APS FHPP Newsletter. This time I interviewed four colleagues on their areas of expertise. My heartfelt thanks to all.
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
Check out Kathy's post raising issues around science in the USA and current policy climate. She reached out for comment on my thoughts on the LIGO array, which is spread across two sites that work together as a single broadband gravitational wave detector. #physics #sciencepolicy
Thanks to Donald Salisbury for the invitation to write a piece on the crisis in American science for the APS FHPP Newsletter. This time I interviewed four colleagues on their areas of expertise. My heartfelt thanks to all.
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com
August 5, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Check out Kathy's post raising issues around science in the USA and current policy climate. She reached out for comment on my thoughts on the LIGO array, which is spread across two sites that work together as a single broadband gravitational wave detector. #physics #sciencepolicy
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
I ask my new + old followers to circulate this open access roundtable onAmerican science. Please repost! We in the USA are losing our lead in scientific research due to totalitarian tendencies in the current administration. This loss will affect all of us.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
The crisis in American science - Kathryn M. Olesko, Anthony Eames, Cyrus C. M. Mody, Ilana Löwy, Thomas Zeller, Mark Walker, Mitchell G. Ash, Donna Haraway, 2025
The second regime of Donald J. Trump has decimated federal science and federally supported science to a greater degree than his first regime, unleashing an unpr...
journals.sagepub.com
June 20, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I ask my new + old followers to circulate this open access roundtable onAmerican science. Please repost! We in the USA are losing our lead in scientific research due to totalitarian tendencies in the current administration. This loss will affect all of us.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Check out the Humans of LIGO blog! Provides an inside look at the amazing LIGO community! It has been a dream to study the history of the amazing endeavor that is LIGO and those who founded, foster, and research in the LIGO Scientific Community! Thanks so much for featuring me! #gravitationalwaves
"I remember thinking, I would not want to be an engineer on LIGO due to the complex challenges of designing and operating precision instruments. That thought fuelled my curiosity"
Find out more about Tiffany (@tiffanynichols.bsky.social) at #HumansOfLIGO: humansofligo.blogspot.com/2025/06/tiff...
Find out more about Tiffany (@tiffanynichols.bsky.social) at #HumansOfLIGO: humansofligo.blogspot.com/2025/06/tiff...
June 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Check out the Humans of LIGO blog! Provides an inside look at the amazing LIGO community! It has been a dream to study the history of the amazing endeavor that is LIGO and those who founded, foster, and research in the LIGO Scientific Community! Thanks so much for featuring me! #gravitationalwaves
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
LIGO and Virgo will resume observing on 11 June joined by KAGRA! All four kilometre-scale gravitational-wave detectors will observe at the same time!
Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries
ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
☄️🔭🧪
Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries
ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
☄️🔭🧪
June 5, 2025 at 12:34 PM
LIGO and Virgo will resume observing on 11 June joined by KAGRA! All four kilometre-scale gravitational-wave detectors will observe at the same time!
Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries
ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
☄️🔭🧪
Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries
ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k...
☄️🔭🧪
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
I have a new article out in Science & Education (journal of the Int'l History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Group) that should eventually be part of a special issue surveying common ground in the recent-ish history of science and science education literatures:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Where Do, and Should, Science and Science Education Happen? - Science & Education
Wherever scientific research can be found, science education is usually present too, and vice versa. Moreover, the sites of science and science education often contain much else besides: commerce, bur...
link.springer.com
June 2, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I have a new article out in Science & Education (journal of the Int'l History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Group) that should eventually be part of a special issue surveying common ground in the recent-ish history of science and science education literatures:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Curious about the process that Dr. Walter Massey (then-Director of the National Science Foundation) used to select LIGO'S Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA, sites? This talk stems from my extensive research of first impression used to reconstruct this history.
I'd like to thank @tiffanynichols.bsky.social for visiting us at AIP on Friday and giving us a great #histsci talk on how the sites of LIGO's twin interferometers were chosen. The video is now available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTeX...
Tiffany Nichols : An Eclectic Array of Expertise:The Federal-Level Site Selection History of LIGO
YouTube video by AIP History
www.youtube.com
May 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Curious about the process that Dr. Walter Massey (then-Director of the National Science Foundation) used to select LIGO'S Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA, sites? This talk stems from my extensive research of first impression used to reconstruct this history.
Thank you so much for having me! Really enjoyed my visit to the American Institute of Physics!
Big thanks to @tiffanynichols.bsky.social for giving a great talk at AIP, “An Eclectic Array of Expertise: The Federal-Level Site Selection History of LIGO.” Great illustration of how history of science research relates to science policy. For those who couldn’t make it, the video should be up soon.
May 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Thank you so much for having me! Really enjoyed my visit to the American Institute of Physics!
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Nominations for the American Physical Society's Pais Prize for History of Physics are due June 2. The nomination package is a fairly heavy lift, so get cracking! #histsci www.aps.org/funding-reco...
Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics
The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society.
www.aps.org
May 2, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Nominations for the American Physical Society's Pais Prize for History of Physics are due June 2. The nomination package is a fairly heavy lift, so get cracking! #histsci www.aps.org/funding-reco...
Happening tomorrow!
DC friends! Come join us on the evening of May 2 for a lecture by Tiffany Nichols of Northeastern University on site selection for LIGO, which detected the first gravitational waves in 2015. Spoiler alert: it was complicated!
ww2.aip.org/history/tiff...
ww2.aip.org/history/tiff...
May 1, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Happening tomorrow!
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
The AIP history, library, and archives teams are excited to launch two new #histsci email newsletters. Our Weekly Edition will offer a short article on the history of the physical sciences and the history community's work. The Monthly is an update on what we're doing at AIP. ww2.aip.org/newsletters
April 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
The AIP history, library, and archives teams are excited to launch two new #histsci email newsletters. Our Weekly Edition will offer a short article on the history of the physical sciences and the history community's work. The Monthly is an update on what we're doing at AIP. ww2.aip.org/newsletters
DC friends! Come join us on the evening of May 2 for a lecture by Tiffany Nichols of Northeastern University on site selection for LIGO, which detected the first gravitational waves in 2015. Spoiler alert: it was complicated!
ww2.aip.org/history/tiff...
ww2.aip.org/history/tiff...
April 11, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
We are delighted to welcome to the AAAS, Section-L ( #HPS ) Steering Committee #histsci @tiffanynichols.bsky.social (as Early Career Representative) & #philsci Wendy Parker (Member-at-Large). Congrats to them both on their election! 🎉
www.aaas.org/sections/his...
www.aaas.org/sections/his...
March 27, 2025 at 5:29 PM
We are delighted to welcome to the AAAS, Section-L ( #HPS ) Steering Committee #histsci @tiffanynichols.bsky.social (as Early Career Representative) & #philsci Wendy Parker (Member-at-Large). Congrats to them both on their election! 🎉
www.aaas.org/sections/his...
www.aaas.org/sections/his...
Nice seeing colleagues @ the APS Global Summit! Enjoyed presenting my research on the nat'l phase of LIGO's site selection & the important role that experts across physics, engineering, grants, law, & science policy played in determining LIGO's two locations. Abstract: summit.aps.org/events/APR-B...
Mini-Symposium: Early History of LIGO
10:45 am – 12:33 pm, Monday March 17, Session APR-B04, Anaheim Marriott, Platinum 3
summit.aps.org
March 22, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Nice seeing colleagues @ the APS Global Summit! Enjoyed presenting my research on the nat'l phase of LIGO's site selection & the important role that experts across physics, engineering, grants, law, & science policy played in determining LIGO's two locations. Abstract: summit.aps.org/events/APR-B...
What happens when dams no longer in use are removed? Nature springs back! Great piece for environmental history & history of technology courses--especially thinking about long-term implications of abandoned tech/what remains from tech & industries that have moved on. e360.yale.edu/features/nor...
How Tearing Down Small Dams Is Helping Restore Northeast Rivers
More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reope...
e360.yale.edu
March 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
What happens when dams no longer in use are removed? Nature springs back! Great piece for environmental history & history of technology courses--especially thinking about long-term implications of abandoned tech/what remains from tech & industries that have moved on. e360.yale.edu/features/nor...
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America.
skyandtelescope.org/press-releas...
@skyandtelescope.bsky.social
skyandtelescope.org/press-releas...
@skyandtelescope.bsky.social
Prepare for the March 13-14 Total Lunar Eclipse
The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America.
skyandtelescope.org
March 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America.
skyandtelescope.org/press-releas...
@skyandtelescope.bsky.social
skyandtelescope.org/press-releas...
@skyandtelescope.bsky.social
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
In this episode of @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's New Books in Animal Studies, author Dawn Day Biehler discusses her book ANIMATING CENTRAL PARK with Miranda Melcher
newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...
newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...
March 3, 2025 at 6:13 PM
In this episode of @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's New Books in Animal Studies, author Dawn Day Biehler discusses her book ANIMATING CENTRAL PARK with Miranda Melcher
newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...
newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Once again boosting the signal for any #histSTM (or #histsci, #histttech & #histmed) friends in the audience!
@contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team!
#ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜
@contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team!
#ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜
March 1, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Once again boosting the signal for any #histSTM (or #histsci, #histttech & #histmed) friends in the audience!
@contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team!
#ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜
@contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team!
#ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜
What was your favorite history book in 2024? For me it was Catherine Dunlop's The Mistral about how the materiality of this regional wind system resisted the establishment of modern French infrastructures (technological, economical, and climate) in Provence.
January 16, 2025 at 4:22 AM
What was your favorite history book in 2024? For me it was Catherine Dunlop's The Mistral about how the materiality of this regional wind system resisted the establishment of modern French infrastructures (technological, economical, and climate) in Provence.
Really enjoyed the lively conversation tonight at the Yale Hist & Phil of Physics Working Group about my latest article in @hsnatsci.bsky.social on the blurring of field and laboratory with precision instruments like LIGO's interferometers! Article available here: online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...
Hidden in Plain Sight: Discerning Signal from Noise in the Expanded Laboratory Environment
What happens when disturbances in precision measurement instruments are indecipherable to physicists despite extensive review of the instruments and their outputs? How do physicists parse instrument o...
online.ucpress.edu
December 13, 2024 at 2:29 AM
Really enjoyed the lively conversation tonight at the Yale Hist & Phil of Physics Working Group about my latest article in @hsnatsci.bsky.social on the blurring of field and laboratory with precision instruments like LIGO's interferometers! Article available here: online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...