John Ruan

Columbia University, BS Candidate

Gamma-ray Bursts: The Brightest Explosions in the Universe

Serendipitously discovered in 1967 by U.S. military satellites monitoring Soviet nuclear testing activities during the Cold War, Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among some of the most exotic phenomena in the universe. The enormous energies released in these explosions and the record-breaking distances from which we can observe them leave many interesting implications in science for astronomers to explore. Although GRBs have been observed for years by ground-based and dedicated space-based telescopes, many unsolved questions about GRBs still persist to this day.