Elisa Maggio

Elisa Maggio is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Potsdam, Germany. She holds a PhD from Sapienza University of Rome, where her thesis, Probing new physics on the horizon of black holes with gravitational waves, earned multiple awards including the Amaldi Research Center Prize, Giulio Rampa Prize, and Fubini Prize. Her work focuses on testing general relativity in extreme environments using gravitational waves, particularly investigating the nature of black hole horizons and alternative theories of gravity. As a Marie Curie Fellow, she contributes to the ThorGW project, exploring horizon properties with future detectors like LISA and the Einstein Telescope.

Her research involves modeling gravitational wave signals from compact object mergers, analyzing ringdown phases, and developing parametrized waveform models for precision tests. Notable contributions include studies on horizonless compact objects and their gravitational wave signatures. Maggio’s position is supported by grants from the Leibniz Prize (DFG) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Elisa has been recognized with prestigious honors such as the Laura Bassi Prize for early-career women in physics (2024) and the Sapienza University of Rome’s thesis prize (2025). Her work bridges theoretical physics with observational challenges, advancing our understanding of gravity’s limits in strong-field regimes.