Awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded
The winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics are Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne for his contribution to the discovery of gravitational waves. The honored scientists are associated with the LIGO detectors, which made it possible to record wrinkles of space-time.
Gravitational waves were first recorded in September 2015, but the information was given only after in-depth analysis of the data – February 2016. A powerful shock in time recorded took place 1.3 billion light years from our solar system. Another detection of waves took place in December 2015. The third detection occurred on January 4, 2017., and we heard about the fourth a few days ago.
Gravitational waves, popularly known as space-time wrinkles, are one of the predictions of the og Einstein’s theory of relativity, although in The project will be carried out b they had also been considered somewhat earlier. Gravitational waves lift energy and can be emitted by objects, which re moving with acceleration. For them to be detectable, a body must have a very high acceleration and a very high mass, e.g. may be sub systems jne containing neutron stars or black holes.
All observed gravitational waves came from collisions dw ch black holes. Astronomers call such a phenomenon „merger”. The energy in gravitational waves released during the merger of black holes exceeded all the electromagnetic radiation from all the stars and galaxies emitted in that fraction of a second.
The first three observations of gravitational waves were made thanks to two LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) detectors located in the United States. The fourth observation also involved the Advanced VIRGO detector located in Italy, which The second half of the award will be shared by Barry Clark Barish, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, also affiliated with the California Institute of Technology in DNA of eight research units.
Polish institutes participating in the research are the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Zielona Góra rski, the National Center for Nuclear Research, the Astronomical Center of the im. Nicolaus Copernicus University PA, the University of Bialystok, the Center for Astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Wrocław, the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University.
In the LIGO-VIRGO project, thanks to which rm it was possible to detect gravitational waves involve thousands of scientists from all over the world, however, the Nobel committee m head to indicate only three. The first of the honorees, to kt rego will return half of the 9 million in the crown, is Rainer Weiss – professor emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the one behind the technique used in LIGO. The other half of the prize will be shared by Barry Clark Barish, a professor at the California Institute of Technology recognized as one of the leading experts In the field of gravitational waves and Kip S. Thorne, a theoretical physicist also associated with the California Institute of Technology. All three scientists were among the originators of the idea in the LIGO project.
The LIGO project began observations in 2002 and lasted until 2010. No gravitational waves were detected at the time. In the following years, upgrades were made to increase the observatory’s detection capabilities and the improved detectors began observations in 2015. Two LIGO observatories have been established in the United States, at Hanford and Livingston.
The laboratory of the international VIRGO experiment is located near Pisa, Italy. In the tunnels of the dw ch perpendicular arms with a length of approx. 3 km moves laser light repeatedly reflected at their ends. Scientists are trying to record even the smallest relative changes in the length of Dr g, which re travels through the light in each of the tunnels. The observation is possible thanks to the phenomenon of interference when superimposing two ch rays of light. Observations of interference image perturbations allow detection of gravitational waves reaching the Earth, since a gravitational wave modifies the length of each arm differently. In an identical manner b two US LIGO detectors are working. By measuring the The time differences between the readings of all three detectors can determine the direction from which rgo comes the recorded wave of.
The Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology was awarded yesterday. Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were rewarded for explaining the mechanism in controlling diurnal rhythms. The Nobel Prize winner in chemistry will be announced on Oct. 4, and the fifth in literature. The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to sz stego October, and on the 9th the name of the winner in the field of economics will be announced.
