Public lecture by the winner of the 2017 AIP Walter Boas Medal

Professor David McClelland
Director, Centre for Gravitational Physics, the Australian National University,
Deputy Director, OzGrav – the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational wave Discovery

“The ‘discovery that shook the world’ – the detection of gravitational waves”

Abstract:
The detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory has opened a new sense with which to observe our universe. Australia is a partner in this observatory, led by the USA with the UK and Germany. In this talk I will review the physics of the Advanced LIGO interferometers, our discoveries to date, and plans for detectors ten times more sensitive.

(RMIT Building 12, Level 7, Room 2)