Lecture - Professor Bob Lambourne - Recent Development in Gravitational Waves

The direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 opened a new window on the universe. 

I gave WAS a talk about that event after the discoverers were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. As expected, much has happened since then, including COVID, so this is a good time for an update about what astronomers have learned so far using gravitational waves, and what we expect to learn in the near future.

In this new talk I shall reintroduce Einstein’s theory of gravity and his prediction of gravitational waves. I shall briefly recap the initial detection and then examine more recent developments. Particular emphasis will be given to the latest developments in gravitational wave detectors, binary black hole detections, the discovery of the gravitational wave background radiation (announced in 2023), and the recent go ahead given to LISA, an ambitious Laser Interferometer Space Antenna involving three synchronized satellites that should allow detection of gravitational waves from Supermassive Black Holes in galactic centres. 

I look forward to seeing you at this face-to-face event.

About Professor Robert (Bob) Lambourne

Professor of Educational Physics at the Open University. 

"He joined the OU after obtaining a PhD in the theory of fundamental particles from the University of London, and completing a temporary lectureship in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Durham, where he taught undergraduate modules on relativity and mathematical methods as well as contributing to an MSc course on differential geometry. He has now worked at the Open University for more than 30 years."

Credit, https://www.open.ac.uk/people/rjl6, Click the link to see his full biography.