Gravitational waves | Washington State Magazine

LIGO Observatory at Hanford. Courtesy National Science Foundation

Winter 2015

Eureka! on the horizon

The silence is unnerving. Not another car in sight as I drive through the desolate Hanford nuclear area. The road unfolds in an eerie lacework of tarred concrete until finally I see it gleaming in the distance—the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO.)

LIGO is home to Earth’s most sensitive optical instrument, uniquely designed to intercept gravity waves. These elusive cosmic waves—or ripples in space-time—are so miniscule that Einstein thought them impossible to view and measure. And so far, he’s been right. Yet if detected, gravitational waves could transform our fundamental understanding of the universe.

They also, incidentally, play a starring role in the hit … » More …

Fall 2003

A search through space and time

In 1916, Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity. However, due to technological limitations, the existence of gravitational waves has been inferred only through indirect observations. Scientists hope to change that with the LIGO facility at Hanford, Washington. » More ...