Physics Research Groups - Philippines (PUP Chapter)

Scientists just found half of the missing matter in our universe

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2017

with one half to Rainer Weiss and the other half jointly to Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne at LIGO/VIRGO COLLABORATION LIGO Scientific Collaboration

“for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”.

On 14 September 2015, the universe’s gravitational waves were observed for the very first time. The waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein a hundred years ago, came from a collision between two black holes. It took 1.3 billion years for the waves to arrive at the LIGO detector in the USA.

The signal was extremely weak when it reached Earth, but is already promising a revolution in astrophysics. Gravitational waves are an entirely new way of observing the most violent events in space and testing the limits of our knowledge.

LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a collaborative project with over one thousand researchers from more than twenty countries. Together, they have realised a vision that is almost fifty years old. The 2017 Nobel Laureates have, with their enthusiasm and determination, each been invaluable to the success of LIGO. Pioneers Rainer Weiss and Kip S. Thorne, together with Barry C. Barish, the scientist and leader who brought the project to completion, ensured that four decades of effort led to gravitational waves finally being observed.

Press release: goo.gl/7auu

Popular information ”Cosmic chirps” (pdf): goo.gl/VaR6qp

Advanced information by the Nobel Committee for Physics (pdf): goo.gl/7avfu5

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