LIGO** scientist, Alastair, shares his experience being a part of scientific history due to the recent detection of gravitational waves from two black holes colliding over one-billion years ago. This discovery confirms Einstein’s theory of general relativity and opens the door to new scientific discoveries about our universe.

Photography: Jonathan Hanson - www.jhansonphoto.com/

Music: Eric Matyas - soundimage.org/sci-fi/

Additional Resources:

NY Times full gravitational waves article - www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.htm

LIGO - www.ligo.caltech.edu/

**UPDATE: LIGO does it a second time: MIT - news.mit.edu/2016/second-time-ligo-detects-gravitational-waves-0615

More info & view slideshow at http://www.afaceproject.com/podcasts/ep03-alastair/

NOTES:

• [4:15] Talks about first detection of gravitational waves
• [5:20] Talks about growing up with science as a child
• [6:05] Speaks about University and the beginning of his interest in gravitational waves
• [6:45] Talks about enjoying research and physics
• [9:30] Talks about how everything we have on earth comes from the stars and the universe
• [11:00] Points out the excitement of this field of study
• [12:10] Our understanding (or not) of black holes
• [12:45] Talks about LIGO for first time
• [14:30] Favorite parts of Alastair’s job
• [15:30] Talks about the day of the detection of gravitational waves
• [19:05] Talks about data analysis and being able to really look at what happened
• [20:10] Sound bite of what 2 black holes spiraling into each other and colliding sound like
• [22:20] Talks about concept of space and time being linked
• [25:15] Significance of this discovery
• [27:00] Talks about how we’re at a new frontier in science
• [28:50] How this discovery changed things