In partnership with the Institute of Physics Scotland, there is a public talk about the 10th Anniversary of the first Gravitational wave detection on Thursday 12th February at 6pm in the Kelvin building, Lecture theatre 257, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow.
Refreshments will be provided.
Free parking will be available on campus for the event, but it's recommend to use public transport where possible as the West End is something of a nightmare for those not used to driving there and it will be dark and busy at this time. Note that at 5 pm the carpark will begin thinning out but it still might not be very empty by 5:30 pm
Description:
In September 2015, humanity heard the universe in a new way. The first direct detection of gravitational waves - tiny ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein a century earlier - marked the beginning of a new era in astronomy. Yet the world would not learn of this milestone until February 2016, when the scientific collaboration announced the discovery to global excitement. Ten years on from that public announcement, this lecture reflects on both the moment itself and the decades of innovation that made it possible.
This talk offers an insider's view of the engineering ingenuity behind the detection, and explores how gravitational-wave observations since 2015 have reshaped our understanding of black holes and neutron stars. It also looks ahead to how next generation detectors promise even more profound discoveries.