2018 STAG public lecture by physics Nobel laureate Rainer Weiss Event

The observations of gravitational waves opens a new way to learn about the universe as well as to test General Relativity in the limit of strong gravitational interactions – the dynamics of massive bodies traveling at relativistic speeds in a highly curved space-time. The lecture will describe some of the difficult history of gravitational waves proposed about 100 years ago. The concepts used in the instruments and the methods for data analysis that enable the measurement of gravitational wave strains of 10^-21 and smaller will be presented. The results derived from the measurement, their relation to the Einstein equations and the astrophysical implications will also be discussed. The talk will end with a vision for the future of gravitational wave astronomy.

The STAG Research Centre brings together world-leading academics from three research groups - Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Gravitation - to explore issues of fundamental physics and astronomy.