More than a century ago, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime produced by some of the universe's most violent events. It took scientists nearly 100 years to develop technology sensitive enough to detect them.
Gabriele Vajente, deputy chief engineer at Caltech's LIGO Laboratory, tells the story of how gravitational waves were discovered and the extraordinary engineering that made it possible. With more than 20 years of experience building LIGO's instruments, Vajente explains how researchers can detect signals far fainter than anything humans could otherwise measure.
The conversation explores what gravitational waves have revealed about black holes and neutron stars, the people and technologies behind the discoveries, and what scientists hope to learn as LIGO prepares to resume observations following a major series of upgrades.
