Gravitational Waves: Resonating with the Universe | Michalis Agathos

Science & Technology

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Michalis Agathos is a theoretical physicist and a member of the international LIGO-Virgo Collaboration of gravitational wave detectors. He began his talk by introducing us to two black holes, that are attracted to each other. As they get closer, if we listen closely, we will hear something, and that something is a gravitational wave. “The things we learned at school about gravity are wrong, they are just taught as an easy approach to reality”, he says. The gravitational wave started its journey 1.3 billion years ago and it was detected by the scientific team in September 2015, 100 years after Albert Einstein’s prediction about their existence. These 0.2 seconds represented a mass equivalent to 3 suns,”a gift that nature decided to give as, and it was loud, clear and beautiful” he says, adding that “the universe has always been humming to us and we just got ears. Let’s listen to the cosmic symphony together”.