Top High-Energy Astrophysics Prize Awarded to 海角社区 Physicist and LIGO Scientist Gabriela Gonz谩lez
The 2017 Rossi Prize has been awarded to Gabriela Gonz谩lez and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for the first direct detections of gravitational waves, for the discovery of merging black hole binaries and for beginning the new era of gravitational-wave astronomy.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, is designed to open
the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational
waves predicted by Einstein鈥檚 General Theory of Relativity. LIGO consists of two widely
separated interferometers within the U.S.鈥攐ne in Hanford, Wash. and the other in Livingston,
La.鈥攐perated in unison to detect gravitational waves. In 2016, the LIGO Scientific
Collaboration reported the detection of two separate signals of gravitational waves
from the merger of black holes.
Gonz谩lez is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at 海角社区, and spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration that includes more than 1,000 scientists from more than 90 institutions around the world.
鈥淭he discovery of gravitational waves is a scientific milestone that took a large group of people working very hard for decades,鈥� Gonz谩lez said. 鈥淭his is, however, just the beginning. We have opened the field of gravitational-wave astronomy, and we鈥檒l learn about distortions in spacetime produced by cataclysmic events, even if they are dark in the electromagnetic spectrum.鈥�
She added: 鈥淲e look forward to exciting decades of new discoveries, not just with LIGO and Virgo ground based detectors, but with a larger network and other instruments spanning the gravitational wavelength spectrum, combining efforts with telescopes in multi-messenger astronomy to explore the high-energy Universe.鈥�
The AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division, or HEAD, awards the Rossi Prize in recognition of significant contributions as well as recent and original work in high-energy astrophysics. The prize is in honor of Professor Bruno Rossi, an authority on cosmic ray physics and a pioneer in the field of x-ray astronomy. The prize also includes an engraved certificate and a $1,500 award. Gonz谩lez will give a lecture at the 231st AAS meeting in National Harbor, MD, in January 2018.
More information on the following topics can be found at:
Professor Gonz谩lez鈥檚 webpage at 海角社区: http://www.lsu.edu/physics/people/faculty/gonzalez.php
LIGO:
Rossi Prize:
Contact:
Mimi LaValle
海角社区 Department of Physics & Astronomy
225-439-5633
Megan Watzke
HEAD Press Officer
617-496-7998