CBS Boston reports on Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss winning the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work detecting gravitational waves. “It’s quite awe-inspiring to think that somehow the three of us got mixed up with a prize that was won by the giants of this science,” said Weiss of his emotions upon winning the award. “It’s amazing.”
Guardian reporter Hannah Devlin writes that this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss. Weiss said the successful detection of gravitational waves was the culmination of “40 years of people thinking about this, trying to make detections, sometimes failing … and then slowly but surely getting the technology together to be able do it.”
Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work developing a device that detects gravitational waves, reports the AP. Weiss said that he views the prize as recognition for the entire LIGO team, and “more as a thing that recognizes the work of a thousand people."
Boston Globe reporters Sean Smyth, John Ellement and Eric Moskowitz report that Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss was honored with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. Weiss explained that LIGO has helped change, “the way you look at the way you fit into the universe. It makes you understand what’s going on all around us in the vastness of the universe.”
Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work successfully detecting gravitational waves, reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times. Weiss explained that thanks to LIGO, which is helping usher in a new era of astronomy, “many of us really expect to learn about things we didn’t know about.”
Scientists at the LIGO and Virgo observatories jointly detected the collision of two black holes, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. Meyers writes that Prof. Nergis Mavalvala explained that the detection was unique as it was recorded, “by a combination of US and European detectors for the first time… [and] because it gave scientists a clear look at the geometry of gravitational waves.”
Ethan Siegel writes for Forbes about the first successful joint detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo observatories. “With three working detectors observing the Universe simultaneously, we can now pinpoint the locations of these sources as never before,” Siegel explains.
Amina Khan of The Los Angeles Times examines the first joint detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Khan notes that the LIGO and Virgo systems are currently being updated to increase their sensitivity to a greater search volume. “There are eight times as many objects in that volume,” explains MIT’s David Shoemaker, LIGO’s spokesperson, increasing the chances of finding gravitational wave sources.
The LIGO and Virgo observatories have made their first joint detection of gravitational waves, report Ben Guarino and Sarah Kaplan for The Washington Post. MIT’s David Shoemaker, spokesperson for LIGO, compared the three-detector network for identifying gravitational waves to a camera tripod that allows scientists to zoom in on the waves' source.
New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye writes that the LIGO and Virgo Scientific Collaborations have together detected gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes. Overbye explains that the new Virgo detector, “greatly increases the network’s ability to triangulate the sources of gravitational waves so that optical telescopes can search for any accompanying fireworks in the visible sky.”
Lowell Sun reporter Chris Lisinski spotlights the total eclipse viewing party held at MIT’s Wallace Observatory in Westford. Lisinski notes that the Observatory, “hosted close to 200 people, many of them young children, for a viewing of Monday's "Great American Eclipse."
Large crowds gathered at MIT's Kresge Oval to observe the solar eclipse using special glasses or catching a glimpse from telescopes, reports Monica Madeja of NECN.
More than 100 people gathered on the lawn of the Wallace Observatory to view the solar eclipse, reports CBS Boston. “I think it just happens to be a special event where the entire country is able to see the same event at the same time,” says Senior Research Support Associate Tim Brothers.
In this video, Jason Brewer of FOX 25 reports from MIT’s Kresge Oval, where an estimated 5,000 people gathered to watch the partial solar eclipse.
Prof. Warren Hoburg speaks with Jeffrey Mervis of Science about his decision to leave MIT to join NASA’s 2017 class of astronauts. He explains that he is working on ensuring his students can continue their research. “I think we have a bunch of ideas that are really powerful, and I want to set up my students to continue that research.”