Public Lecture - McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture

Einstein, gravitational waves, and black holes

Professor Gabriela González, Spokesperson for LIGO, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University

More than 100 years ago, Einstein predicted that space-time was dynamic and that there were ripples (or gravitational waves) in space-time traveling at the speed of light.  On September 14, 2015, the two LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, registered for the first time ever a loud gravitational wave signal traveling through Earth.  The wave was created more than a billion years ago from the merger of two black holes.  A few months later in December, another signal, also from black holes, was detected.  These observations marked the beginning of gravitational wave astronomy.  We will describe the exciting details of the observation, the status of gravitational wave detectors, and the gravity-bright future of the field.LIGO - Livingston