Rainer Weiss wins Kavli Prize in Astrophysics
LIGO inventor shares award for direct detection of gravitational waves.
Kavli Institute
Rainer Weiss awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy
Physics professor emeritus shares prize with Caltech's Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever for designing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.
Seven from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2016
Prestigious honor society announces 213 new members this year.
3 Questions: The origin of the cosmos’ heaviest elements
Unique galaxy offers clues to the extreme conditions that yield the heavies of the periodic table.
Testimony: LIGO has “cracked open” a new window to the universe
MIT’s David Shoemaker testifies before Congress on the significance of LIGO.
Scientists make first direct detection of gravitational waves
LIGO signal reveals first observation of two massive black holes colliding, proves Einstein right.
Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction
LIGO opens a new window on the universe with the observation of gravitational waves from colliding black holes.
Student-built instrument headed to asteroid and back
Created by MIT students, REXIS has been integrated onto NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
Most distant massive galaxy cluster identified
Formed in the first 4 billion years of the universe, cluster is 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way.
3 Questions: Anna Frebel on searching for the oldest stars
New book details astronomers’ hunt for clues to the early universe.
3Q: Sarah Ballard on astrophysics and gender equity in science
Kavli Institute postdoc and 2015 L'Oreal USA For Women in Science Award winner speaks on her career and why roadblocks remain for women in science.
New exoplanet in our neighborhood
Though likely uninhabitable, planet is rocky, Earth-sized, and near enough for study of its atmosphere.
Advanced LIGO set to begin science operations
The world's most sensitive gravitational-wave detector is scheduled to go online this week, after seven years of enhancement.