August Meeting

Gravitational Waves Found!

A billion years ago, two black holes collided and merged, sending powerful ripples across the fabric of space-time.  In 2015 those gravitational waves reached Earth and tickled the detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).  This first-ever detection of gravitational waves confirmed a long-standing prediction of Einstein's general relativity.  It also was the culmination of a decades-long effort."   This talk is given by one of the co-founders of LIGO.  He will speak about the challenges of LIGO and of the implications of this momentous discovery.

Dr. Rainer Weiss is Professor of Physics, emeritus at MIT and co-founder of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.