Video now at youtube: WHISPERS FROM THE COSMOS: The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Theory

Watch the video at https://youtu.be/HI5g7ELCfyU

Shane Larson, professor of astronomy and physics at Northwestern and a LIGO member, discussed the significance of this tremendous discovery with us this Friday, February 26, at Revolution Books Chicago.

Here's what Dr Larson wrote as an introduction:

"Virtually everything we know about the Universe has been discovered from the study of photons --- light in all its myriad forms from radio waves, to visible light, to x-rays and beyond. At the dawn of the 21st century, advanced technology is providing access to the Cosmos through detection of ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself.

"These ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves, carry information not in the form of light or particles, but in the form of gravity itself. LIGO has made the first detection of gravitational waves: they were the messenger which carried the story to Earth of two black holes colliding 1.3 billion lightyears away.

"This talk will explore the modern description of gravity, what gravitational waves are and how we hope to measure them, and what we hope to learn from their detection. Gravity has a story to tell, and in this talk, we'll explore some of discoveries we hope to make by listening."