Barry Barish

Barry Barish is an American experimental physicist who led the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project and shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for the first direct detection of gravitational waves.

Rainer Weiss: An American physicist whose interferometer proposal helped establish the scientific basis for LIGO. Weiss developed the detector concept that Barish helped turn into a major observatory.
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory: A pair of large laser interferometers in the United States designed to detect gravitational waves. Barish directed the project that built and operated these detectors.
California Institute of Technology: A private research university in Pasadena, California, known for science and engineering. Barish spent much of his research career at Caltech and led LIGO from there.
Gravitational-wave astronomy: The study of cosmic events through gravitational waves detected on Earth or in space. LIGO’s detections established a new observational field that Barish helped bring into existence.
Kip Thorne: An American theoretical physicist whose work on relativity and gravitational waves helped shape LIGO. Thorne and Barish helped lead LIGO’s scientific and organizational development.
Michelson interferometer: An optical instrument that compares light traveling along different paths to measure tiny changes in their relative lengths. LIGO adapts interferometry to measure changes far smaller than an atomic nucleus.
Fermilab: A United States particle-physics laboratory near Chicago that operates accelerator and detector research programs. Barish held leadership roles at Fermilab before taking charge of LIGO.
Binary black hole: A system of two black holes orbiting one another and eventually capable of merging. LIGO’s first detection revealed a distant binary black-hole merger.
LIGO Scientific Collaboration: An international collaboration that analyzes gravitational-wave data and operates LIGO detectors with partner observatories. Barish expanded LIGO into the collaboration responsible for validating its discoveries.
Gravitational wave: A ripple in spacetime produced by accelerating masses, propagating outward at the speed of light. These waves are the signals LIGO was designed to detect.

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