I thought that there must be an easier way to explain how a gravitational wave interacts with matter: If one just looked at the most primitive thing of all, 3D floating masses out in space, and look at how the space between them changed because of the gravitational wave coming between them. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
The waves travel with the velocity of light and slightly squeeze and stretch space transverse to the direction of their motion. The first waves we measured came from the collision of two black holes each about 30 times the mass of our sun. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
For reasons probably related to the popular vision of Albert Einstein and, also, the threat posed by black holes in comic books and science fiction, our gravitational wave discoveries have had an amazing public impact. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
What was done is measure directly, with exquisitely sensitive instruments, gravitational waves predicted about 100 years ago by Albert Einstein. These waves are a new way to study the universe and are expected to have significant impact on astronomy and astrophysics in the years ahead. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
We are all enormously indebted to the National Science Foundation of the United States and the American public for steady support over close to 50 years. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
We know about black holes and neutron stars, but we hope there are other phenomena we can see because of the gravitational waves they emit. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
The triumph is that the waveform we measure is very well represented by solutions of these equations. Einstein is right in a regime where his theory has never been tested before. Rainer Weiss Read Quote
