"Andrews University, along with the rest of the world, was on pins and needles this morning as we
awaited the announcement from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the National Science Foundation that they had discovered a way to detect and measure gravitational waves.
However, unlike most of the rest of the world, we waited alongside one of the LIGO scientists who worked to make that a reality.
Tiffany Summerscales, associate professor of physics at Andrews University, is one of 1,000 researchers from various locations around the world who has been studying gravity and how to prove a theory Einstein posited a century ago. She’s been working with the project since 2000 when she began her graduate research.
Summerscales explains the basis of this research, saying, “Einstein’s theory of general relativity posits that mass curves space-time. When the distribution of mass changes, the curvature must also change and that change spreads outwards through space like the ripples on a pond. These ripples, also called gravitational waves, are very faint. Only the most significant events in the universe, like a supernova (an explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy), or massive objects are capable of producing gravitational waves of measureable strength.” AndrewsAgenda
....for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah 4:6
However, unlike most of the rest of the world, we waited alongside one of the LIGO scientists who worked to make that a reality.
Tiffany Summerscales, associate professor of physics at Andrews University, is one of 1,000 researchers from various locations around the world who has been studying gravity and how to prove a theory Einstein posited a century ago. She’s been working with the project since 2000 when she began her graduate research.
Summerscales explains the basis of this research, saying, “Einstein’s theory of general relativity posits that mass curves space-time. When the distribution of mass changes, the curvature must also change and that change spreads outwards through space like the ripples on a pond. These ripples, also called gravitational waves, are very faint. Only the most significant events in the universe, like a supernova (an explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy), or massive objects are capable of producing gravitational waves of measureable strength.” AndrewsAgenda
....for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah 4:6
