Northwestern played a crucial role in the historic detection of gravitational waves, which were first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. On September 14, 2015, a team of more than 1,000 scientists and engineers from around the world detected these ripples in the fabric of spacetime, marking a major milestone in our understanding of the universe.
Since then, sophisticated detectors in the United States and Italy have discovered more than 90 signals from the mergers of black holes and/or neutron stars. Now, hundreds of gravitational-wave researchers involved in these discoveries are gathering at Northwestern University for an international conference from March 13-17.
Hosted by Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), this conference marks the first in-person meeting in the United States since the pandemic began. The community of three science collaborations holds working meetings twice a year, and this conference is expected to be critical in preparing for the next period of gravitational-wave discoveries with detectors featuring the highest sensitivity ever.
CIERA director Vicky Kalogera, who is also the faculty lead of the Northwestern group in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, emphasized the importance of face-to-face presentations, discussions, and brainstorming during the conference.
Although the scientific conference is not open to the public, CIERA is holding two related public events on March 14 to engage the broader community in this exciting field of research.
Learn more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Northwestern to host gravitational-wave researchers from around the globe.”