MIT’s Jessica Fry hunts for axions, a dark matter candidate

Physicists globally are attempting to directly detect 85 percent of all matter in the universe, a feat that has eluded them until now. Jessica Fry, a fifth-year physics PhD candidate at MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science, is among those hunting for the axion, currently the leading theoretical candidate for dark matter. “It’s a hard problem,” Fry says, “But it’s a tractable one because the shape of the axion signal is so distinctive.” Fry’s dedication to fully engaging with any pursuit began early; she replicated a 1960s experiment using detectors from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory while still in high school. Nearly 85 percent of all matter in the universe remains dark matter, a substance that evades direct detection despite…