Rainer Weiss was a pioneer within the LIGO project, where gravitational waves are studied. In an early stage of the project, he built this prototype detector for measuring how laser beams are displaced relative to each other due to gravitational waves.
The concept of gravitational waves has its basis in Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Gravitational waves are generated when space-time expands and contracts, but the changes are infinitesimal and hard to measure.
Rainer Weiss donated the prototype detector to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2017.
Kip Thorne has mainly worked on the theoretical aspects of how gravitational waves can be observed in the large LIGO facilities. This metal plate is a more practical contribution to the experiments, however. The plate is used as a baffle to screen off intrusive light during the observations. The heights of the plate’s “teeth” are random in a conscious way; they vary according to statistical normal distribution. This makes it possible to effectively eliminate intrusive light.
Kip Thorne donated the light baffle to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2017.
Barry Barish was the manager of the LIGO project, where detectors that register shifts in laser beams are a vital part of the instruments. These are the two detectors that were used in 2015 at the two LIGO facilities in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, when gravitational waves were recorded for the first time.
Barry Barish donated the detectors to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2017.
