IIT-Gn celebrates a decade of gravitational wave discovery

The year 2015 was a landmark for the astrophysics community across the globe as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) made the first direct detection of a gravitational wave originating from a collision of two black holes 1.3 billion years ago. An event at IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) recently marked the decade of the discovery and brought together nine of the authors of the seminal paper that announced the scientific breakthrough to the world. "The energy around LIGO-India was incredible, and you could feel a real sense of ownership in the community. It's clear that India is ready to play a leading role in this global adventure," said Prof Anand Sengupta, part of the organising committee of the event. Prof Sudipta Sarkar from IIT-Gn said that the gravitational-wave observations provide one of the most powerful tests of Einstein's general relativity, and any sign of deviation from this century-old theory would be as revolutionary as Albert Einstein's own discovery a hundred years ago.

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