LSU adjunct professor Rainer Weiss is one of three scientists selected for this year’s Nobel Physics Prize.
Physicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, dubbed LIGO, in Livingston Parish on Tuesday (Oct. 3) were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, eliciting congratulatory messages from state officials.
Three scientists received the award for their roles in detecting gravitational waves caused by the collision of two black holes from 1.3 billion light-years away. This phenomenon was predicted a century ago under the auspice of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The detections were made at LIGO facilities in Hanford, Wash., and in Livingston.
Rainer Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of three scientists selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to receive this year’s Nobel Prize in physics. Weiss is also an adjunct professor at LSU, which owns the land where LIGO operates in Livingston.
Scientists first observed gravitational waves in action Sept. 14,2015, before experts went on to see them again twice. Weiss described his response to the Nobel Prize for his work as “one of relief” in an interview with MIT.
“This monkey was sort of gnawing at me for probably 20 years and he hopped off,” Weiss said in describing the burden of their research.
In a released statement, Gov. John Bel Edwards lauded LIGO physicists for their role in the research. He congratulated Weiss, as well as California Institute of Technology professor emeriti Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, “on this incredible honor.”
Edwards stressed the Nobel Prize is in part an “outcome of LSU’s long-term dedication” to research, as well as “a testament to what our students and faculty in Louisiana can accomplish when we give them the tools to succeed.”
“LSU’s investment in gravitational-wave detection spans more than four decades across the development of several generations of gravitational wave detectors meaning a whole team of LSU scientists, staff and students helped make this discovery possible,” Edwards stated.
LSU officials also celebrated for the Nobel Prize win, as a university press release stated that faculty, students and research staff were “major contributors” to the international LIGO Science Collaboration. LSU’s campus is located 25 miles from LIGO Livingston in Baton Rouge, and it is the only research university in the nation located close enough for students and faculty to engage in daily interactions with a LIGO observatory.
Cynthia Peterson, dean of the LSU College of Science, called Tuesday “an exciting time for LSU” in a released statement. She also said the discovery of the waves were “100 years in the making.” Describing how scientists constantly pursue more knowledge and understanding of humanity’s place in the universe, she stressed that discovering gravitational waves “is a leap forward in this pursuit.”
“LIGO’s history-making work has given us new insight into our universe,” Peterson stated. “We salute the LSU scientists who contributed to this discovery and all of the members of the LIGO scientific collaboration.”
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Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles .
