Outreach talk by Barry Barish during SEWM18 – “Gravitational Waves: From Einstein to a New Science”

2018-06-26

00:00

Cosmocaixa - Carrer Isaac Newton, 26 (8022) - Barcelona

When Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves 100 years ago, he thought that the effects they generate are so small that they could never be detected. After 40 years of controversy, the theorists finally reached a consensus: gravitational waves exist.

But … would it be possible to develop instruments sensitive enough to detect those waves produced by tremendous cosmic collisions in the "fabric" of space-time? The answer is affirmative.

In September 2015, the two interferometers of the Gravitational Wave Interferometry Observatory (LIGO), for the first time, captured gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes and, in August 2017, others generated by the fusion of two neutron stars. These detections have opened a new window for the study of the universe. This conference will discuss this discovery and the future science associated with it.

Barry Barish, Nobel Prize in Physics 2017, professor emeritus of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), will be the expert who will tell us the ins and outs of gravitational waves.

Register here