Scientists struggle to stay grounded after possible gravitational wave signal
Not for the first time, the world of physics is abuzz with rumours that gravitational waves have been detected by scientists in the US.
Lawrence Krauss, a cosmologist at Arizona State university, tweeted that he had received independent confirmation of a rumour that has been in circulation for months, adding: “Gravitational waves may have been discovered!!”
The excitement centres on a longstanding experiment known as the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo) which uses detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana to look for ripples in the fabric
of spacetime.
According to the rumours, scientists on the team are in the process of writing up a paper that describes a gravitational wave signal. If such a signal exists and is verified, it would confirm one of the most dramatic predictions of Albert Einstein’s century-old theory of general relativity.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/12/gravitation-waves-signal-rumoured-science?
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Wonderful to see the actual people who have--or will, or may...?--detect a gravitational wave! This makes their goal--whether it is announced shortly, or they have to keep at it--all the more exciting. And I absolutely love how they share ideas and credit among themselves and state how they feel like part of a collective effort, from past explorers, to now, to the future. And of course I love their openness to young students and the public, and their efforts to make LIGO and science itself intelligible to all of us.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all human civilization were like this: all able to seek knowledge for its own sake, all fulfilling the best of human potential?
Sad, sad, sad that we don't have such a civilization, and instead have one ruled by those committed to greed and war. But there are moments of light and hope, here and there. What we could be.
Clearly it was just a gravitational wave.
