Post by washi on Feb 12, 2016 13:18:57 GMT
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory was founded in 1992 by Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever of Caltech and Rainer Weiss of MIT. Two instruments were constructed, one at Hanford, Washington, and the other at Livingston, Louisiana. The project continues under the joint sponsorship of the two schools, plus other universities which have joined the research.
Today (or maybe yesterday by now), it was announced that an observation made in September of 2015, (and verified with extreme rigor), proved the existence of gravity waves, the last unproven element of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. The ability to detect gravitational waves has enormous implications for future avenues of research.
LIGO in Wikipedia.
I regret that this post spoiled hhgygy's puzzle, but I began creating this thread well over a hour before his puzzle was posted. I may have become a sucker for the hype, but I image that this breakthrough will remain one of the most important made in my lifetime. Anyway, for anybody else who is likeminded, I'm adding this longish video of the NFS news conference where the announcement was made.
The two existing observatory sites are placemarked in the attached file.
Today (or maybe yesterday by now), it was announced that an observation made in September of 2015, (and verified with extreme rigor), proved the existence of gravity waves, the last unproven element of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. The ability to detect gravitational waves has enormous implications for future avenues of research.
LIGO in Wikipedia.
I regret that this post spoiled hhgygy's puzzle, but I began creating this thread well over a hour before his puzzle was posted. I may have become a sucker for the hype, but I image that this breakthrough will remain one of the most important made in my lifetime. Anyway, for anybody else who is likeminded, I'm adding this longish video of the NFS news conference where the announcement was made.
The two existing observatory sites are placemarked in the attached file.
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