Merritt Moore, Ph.D., Quantum Physicist and Ballerina

Today, my guest is Merritt Moore, Ph.D., a quantum physicist and professional ballerina who is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi. Dr. Moore graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors in Physics from Harvard and graduated with a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. She also pursues a professional ballet career, previously with the Zurich Ballet, Boston Ballet, English National Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet. 

She was awarded Forbes 30 under 30, and she was one of the 12 selected candidates to undergo rigorous astronaut selection on BBC Two “Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?” and is is featured in the bestseller “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls”. With her ballet, physics and astronaut background, Dr. Moore’s focus has led her to programming and dancing with robots.

She was invited as artist-in-residence at Harvard ArtLab and during the pandemic, she created a number of dances with an industrial robotic arm, which became featured in TIME, Financial Times (FT), Vogue, BBC Click and more. She was invited to America’s Got Talent 2021 and got “YES” from all 4 judges. She choreographed and performed her robot dances for Boston Ballet, Harvard AI Opening for Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Harvard President, Forbes Women’s Summit and in Switzerland in front of an audience of 3,000 people.