New Horizons: Detecting Gravitational Waves
Dr. Carl Blair at the Ascension Parish Library
Ascension Parish Library—Dutchtown 13278 Highway 73, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70734
Join the Ascension Parish Library in Dutchtown for a special lecture by Dr. Carl Blair, who will shed light on the workings of the Advanced LIGO (Laser Interfermoter Gravitational-wave Observatory) detectors, explaining the current science of gravitational wave detection.
Dr. Blair is a Postdoctoral fellow at California University of Technology, where his role is the commission of LIGO in Livingston with a special focus on Opto-mechanics. In September 2015, LIGO—which is the world's largest gravitational wave observatory—received the first confirmed gravitational wave signals in history. The path to this discovery was not a straightforward one, full of mistakes, retractions, false claims, and huge disappointments. Dr. Blair will tell this story while explaining what gravitational waves are, how they are formed, and how we detect them. 6:30 pm. Free.