CAMBRIDGE, MA—The IIT Association of Greater New England, known as IIT AGNE, and MIT Indian student organization Sangam, will host a distinguished lecture by Prof. Rainer Weiss on Gravitational Waves and LIGO on March 25 at MIT, the two organizations said in a statement.

Rainer Weiss

“A hundred years ago, Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves with his theory of gravity, general relativity. It took scientists a hundred years to finally detect them thanks to the persistence and ingenuity of Dr. Weiss who helped invent the laser interferometric technique that is the key component of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO),” the statement said. “It was fifty years ago that Dr. Weiss dreamed up the method to detect gravitational waves, infinitesimal ripples in space-time and finally last September, an international team of scientists working at two detectors in Lousiana and Washington state, detected the waves generated by two massive black holes colliding a billion light years away. In addition to the LIGOs in Louisiana and Washington plans are under way to also build one in India.”

Come hear the story behind the amazing achievement from the inventor himself. The event will be in Room 26-100 at MIT on Saturday, March 25th from 2 to 4 pm and is FREE to the public. You will need to register and have a ticket for the event as space is limited. Please do so at: https://bit.ly/mitligo.