What does it take to listen to the universe?

In this episode of The Data Playbook, Kris Peeters talks with Tjonnie Li, Professor at KU Leuven, about gravitational waves, black hole collisions, and the massive data challenge behind the Einstein Telescope.

They explore how modern science is becoming deeply data-driven, why the next generation of research infrastructure will need to operate like a science factory, and how AI, automation, and large-scale compute could become essential for turning petabytes of raw data into scientific discovery.

This episode covers:

• what gravitational waves are and why they matter
• how black hole collisions are measured
• why the Einstein Telescope could transform European science
• the data, compute, and storage challenge behind next-gen physics
• what academia can learn from industry about automation and orchestration
• how AI agents could support future scientific discovery

👉 Subscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Dataminded

👉 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aBbykwnsmpI

👉 Explore more content & insights: https://dataminded.com

👉 Follow Dataminded on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dataminded

#DataEngineering #AI #GravitationalWaves #EinsteinTelescope #BigData #ScientificComputing #ResearchInfrastructure #DataPlaybook

Chapters:

00:00 Intro: Tjonnie Li joins The Data Playbook

02:08 What gravitational waves are - in plain English

05:19 Why science is becoming data-driven

11:28 How we measure black hole collisions today

15:50 The Einstein Telescope: ambition, timeline, and European bid

19:44 The data infrastructure challenge: from terabytes to petabytes

30:56 AI, automation, and the idea of a “science factory”

38:50 Why this matters for Europe, innovation, and society