The Discovery of Gravitational Waves

In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted that his new theory of gravitation, now called General Relativity, included wave modes which could propagate in vacuum a little like electromagnetism. These modes – the “gravitational” waves – were predicted by Einstein to be so weak that they would “never be detected”.

With the development of electronics, lasers and high vacuum systems detection became a possibility and then a goal. For more than 40 years, experimental groups across the world developed and improved equipment to detect these waves hoping they would allow a different and complementary view of the Cosmos and enable the detailed study of black holes in particular. In 2015 the first detection took place and was announced on the front page of 94 national newspapers across the world, opening a new window on the Universe.

Join us as Professor Mike Cruise asks: how was this achieved and what do gravitational waves tell us?

Mike Cruise has been active in Space Science for more than 50 years and has chaired space policy committees in STFC, the UK Space Agency and ESA. He was appointed Professor Emeritus on his retirement from Birmingham in 2012 and has subsequently served as Treasurer and President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Mike has written over 200 scientific papers and co-authored one book.