World Science Festival NYC: LIGO, the Gravitational Wave Detector

Rai Weiss, Kip Thorne, Walter Isaacson and LIGO

Rai Weiss, Ms. Zap, Kip Thorne

Yesterday I attended a talk given by the physicists who designed and led LIGO, the celebrated gravitational wave observatory.

A few things I learned:

• Another observatory in Italy will be working by September.  This will help scientists be able to pinpoint where in space future events are happening.

• These distinguished physicists spoke movingly about the necessity and power of working as a team.  Dr. Thorne described the enormous collaboration required as "beautiful to behold."

• Dr. Thorne believes our descendants will one day say the gift our age gave to humankind was an understanding of the universe.  That gift comes from SCIENCE.