{"id":1728,"date":"2017-10-06T00:09:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T00:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2024-08-30T17:30:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T17:30:55","slug":"einsteins-waves-new-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/","title":{"rendered":"Einstein&#8217;s Waves: New Views"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#nobel\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171003-_98122282_1-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Einstein&#8217;s theories gave scientists good reasons for thinking gravitational waves exist. A century later, instruments detected the elusive radiation.<\/p>\n<p>Three American scientists won this year&#8217;s Nobel Prize in Physics for work that led to the discovery.<\/p>\n<p>Observatories in America and Italy have detected three more gravitational wave signals. What they learned wasn&#8217;t quite what they expected.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dealing with reality\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#patriotism\">Patriotism, Within Reason<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#fiery\">Fiery Eyes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#new\">New Ideas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#waves\">Waves? Particles? Both?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#michelson\">Michelson Interferometers, 1887-2017<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the news\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#nobel\">Nobel Prize in Physics, 2017: LIGO Scientists<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#first1\">First Observation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#ego\">EGO: Fourth Gravity Wave Detection<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#finding\">Finding Nothing Means Something<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#its\">It&#8217;s a Start<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Looking over the horizon\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#God\">God Gave Us Brains<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#euclid\">Euclid, Alcubierre, and Beyond<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"patriotism\"><\/a>Patriotism, Within Reason<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/independence-day-2017\/#patriot\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/800px-Naturalization_ceremony_at_Kennedy_Space_Center-detail329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>I would have read about this year&#8217;s Nobel Prize in Physics, no matter who they picked.<\/p>\n<p>But seeing American scientists given the award lets me enjoy patriotic feelings. Within reason.<\/p>\n<p>I like being an American, for the most part. It gives me a particular focus, and helps me see the world through my culture&#8217;s filter. That makes understanding what folks around me say and do a bit easier.<\/p>\n<p>I also like being a Catholic.<\/p>\n<p>That lets me enjoy being an American <strong>and<\/strong> remember that we live in a big world: without unreasoning fear or arrogance. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1934\">1934<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1942\">1942<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a4.htm#2238\">2238<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a4.htm#2243\">2243<\/a>)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;Citizens must cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but without being narrow-minded. This means that they will always direct their attention to the good of the whole human family, united by the different ties which bind together races, people and nations&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20150212-ff-Documents\/Gaudium_et_spes.pdf\">Gaudium et spes<\/a>,&#8221; Blessed Pope Paul VI (December 7, 1965))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4><a name=\"fiery\"><\/a>Fiery Eyes<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#baryons\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170323-560px-Baryon-decuplet-small-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s been about two dozen centuries since Empedocles thought Aphrodite made human eyes from the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Giving Aphrodite credit for our eyes made sense, given his culture&#8217;s assumptions.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve learned a bit since then.<\/p>\n<p>Most of us, anyway. Some folks seem dedicated to the belief that God gets offended when we study God&#8217;s creation. Particularly if we learn something that doesn&#8217;t fit their assumptions. I figure God gave us brains, and I&#8217;ll get back to that.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe they haven&#8217;t quite shaken off the idea that intruding on nature offends &#8216;the spirits.&#8217; I can&#8217;t know what happens in another person&#8217;s mind, so that&#8217;s speculation. Fallout from 19th century English politics doesn&#8217;t, I think, help. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/right-handedness-and-evolving-jaws\/#contest\">October 28, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sandra-and-tommy-apes-and-ethics\/#truth\">July 15, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Empedocles said we can see because fire shone from our eyes. Humans don&#8217;t have particularly good night vision, so that couldn&#8217;t be the whole answer.<\/p>\n<p>He figured vision depended on interaction between fire from our eyes and fire from other sources, like the sun. That made sense, given what folks knew in his day. Plato&#8217;s view of vision was on pretty much the same page.<\/p>\n<p>Euclid saw problems with the &#8216;fire&#8217; model, but wasn&#8217;t nearly as influential.<\/p>\n<p>The paper trail for Euclid&#8217;s personal life starts more than eight centuries after his death. We don&#8217;t even know when or where he was born. We probably wouldn&#8217;t know anything about him, if folks hadn&#8217;t made a point of keeping records of his work.<\/p>\n<p>Euclid thought about light and vision, applying math to the ideas. His &#8220;\u1f48\u03c0\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac,&#8221; &#8220;Optics,&#8221; deals mostly with geometric aspects of light. He realized that sight had physical and psychological aspects, but that wasn&#8217;t his focus.<\/p>\n<p>Euclid did, however, think that beams from our eyes probably weren&#8217;t how vision works. We see stars right away when we open our eyes at night. He figured that wasn&#8217;t consistent with the &#8216;fire&#8217; model. He was right about that.<\/p>\n<p>Ptolemy and Galen thought Empedocles and Plato were right about sight. It wasn&#8217;t until about a thousand years back that European scholars started wondering if maybe there&#8217;s another explanation.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"new\"><\/a>New Ideas<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#psalms\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/BiblicalCosmologies.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>A Latin translation of Ibn al-Haytham&#8217;s &#8220;Kitab al-Manazir,&#8221; &#8220;Book of Optics,&#8221; helped.<\/p>\n<p>So, I think, did work by folks like Saints Albertus Magnus and Hildegard of Bingen. They weren&#8217;t, strictly speaking, scientists. But they helped get today&#8217;s science started.<\/p>\n<p>Albertus Magnus helped make Aristotle&#8217;s ideas available to European scholars. I see no problem with that.<\/p>\n<p>Aristotle is a pretty good role model for folks who see thinking as a good idea.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Some European scholars got overly-enthusiastic over their favorite philosopher.<\/p>\n<p>Thinking someone is top in their field is okay. Within reason. Forgetting who&#8217;s in charge isn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>One of the topics being discussed was whether we were on the only world.<\/p>\n<p>It was a reasonable question at the time. The telescope was still a few centuries in their future.<\/p>\n<p>Aristotle&#8217;s fans said that other worlds couldn&#8217;t exist: because Aristotle said so.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve mentioned Proposition 27\/219 of 1277 before. It&#8217;s no longer in effect, but the principle still holds.<\/p>\n<p>God decides how reality works. We don&#8217;t. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/115#23115003\">Psalms 115:3<\/a>; Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p3.htm#268\">268<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;God or Aristotle&#8217; question came up again, a few centuries later. Folks like Copernicus and Galileo were taking a fresh look at astronomical assumptions. European politics of the day were more volatile than usual.<\/p>\n<p>I figure <strong>any<\/strong> new ideas would have given some folks fits. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/repeatable-results-that-arent\/#there\">April 28, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#from\">March 24, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Tensions between northern and southern European powers gave us the Reformation, Thirty Years&#8217; War, and Enlightenment.<\/p>\n<p>I think we&#8217;ll be cleaning up the mess for centuries. The good news is that we&#8217;ve made significant progress, and that&#8217;s another topic. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/taking-god-seriously\/#paine\">August 20, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sin-original-and-otherwise\/#thirty\">November 6, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/authority-superstition-progress\/\">October 30, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Where was I? Physics, Aphrodite, assumptions. Right.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"waves\"><\/a>Waves? Particles? Both?<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/making-a-universe-why-bother\/#paying\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/QuantumClockwork-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Kozuch's photo: 'Prim clockwork of a wristwatch, watchmaking exhibition, Municipal Museum, Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czech Republic'. (2009) \/ PoorLeno's image: Wave functions of the electron in a hydrogen atom at different energy levels. (2008) via Wikipedia, used w\/o permission.\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Folks were rethinking Aristotelian physics in the early 1600s.<\/p>\n<p>One of the questions was how light works. Some said waves were a good model. Others said light acts like particles.<\/p>\n<p>Huygens, Boyle, and others said &#8216;waves.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Others, including Gassendi and Newton, said &#8216;particles.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate Gassendi&#8217;s efforts to steer between skepticism and knee-jerk dedication to dogma. His efforts to merge Epicurean atomism with his views of Christianity probably made more sense at the time.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>About the &#8216;waves or particle&#8217; question, we&#8217;re pretty sure the &#8216;wave&#8217; and &#8216;particle&#8217; folks were both right. Sort of.<\/p>\n<p>Quantum mechanics makes sense, so far. Light acts like particles and waves. Subatomic particles act like waves and particles.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m quite sure we haven&#8217;t found a complete explanation for how reality works. But we&#8217;ve found a few more pieces of the puzzle.<\/p>\n<p>Isaac Newton published &#8220;Opticks&#8221; in 1704. His argument for a corpuscular theory of light was a good-enough match with observations.<\/p>\n<p>But it didn&#8217;t account for diffraction. Newton suggested that an aethereal medium caused that effect. Newton had earned a considerable reputation and his optical theories were reasonable. The scientific consensus was that Newton&#8217;s corpuscular theory was right.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists kept studying light. That&#8217;s how science works. Accepting a theory means testing it: not tabling the question. It&#8217;s how we keep learning more about this universe.<\/p>\n<p>If the corpuscular theory and luminiferous aether models described how light works, better tech and more precise data would match them, or at least come close.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn&#8217;t happening. Scientists were increasingly convinced that they needed a model other than Newton&#8217;s aether.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"michelson\"><\/a>Michelson Interferometers, 1887-2017<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#luminiferous\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/800px-On_the_Relative_Motion_of_the_Earth_and_the_Luminiferous_Ether_-_Fig_3-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Albert A. Michelson started improving interferometer tech in the 1880s.<\/p>\n<p>Research sparked by the 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment eventually showed that luminiferous aether isn&#8217;t there.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve used the same tech quite a bit since then. Scientists and technicians have been using Michelson interferometers for spectroscopy, testing optical equipment, and measuring stars.<\/p>\n<p>But the Michelson-Morley experiment was probably that interferometer design&#8217;s most famous use.<\/p>\n<p>Until now.<\/p>\n<p>The LIGO and VIRGO detectors are Michelson interferometers. They measure gravity waves instead of light.<\/p>\n<p>Newton&#8217;s law of universal gravitation is still &#8220;true&#8221; in the sense that it is a very good approximation for large masses and low velocities. We still use Newtonian physics when dealing with planetary orbits and navigation the Solar System.<\/p>\n<p>Newton offered some tentative ideas about why gravity works the way it does. He thought we didn&#8217;t know enough at the time to be sure.<\/p>\n<p>Oliver Heaviside said maybe gravity acts like waves. That was 1893.<\/p>\n<p>Henri Poincar\u00e9 and Albert Einstein both added math to discussions of gravitational waves in the early 1900s.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup> I&#8217;ll let historians who haven&#8217;t been born yet sort out how much each of them helped solve that particular puzzle.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"gravitational\"><\/a>Gravitational waves kept making sense as scientists analyzed more data. We&#8217;re pretty sure they&#8217;re a good way to describe the phenomenon. I&#8217;d be astounded and a bit disappointed if they&#8217;re the full answer, though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#einstein\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/Wavy-329.gif?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Gravitational waves are analogous to the electromagnetic waves we call &#8220;light.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That started me thinking about where &#8216;gravity astronomy&#8217; may be going.<\/p>\n<p>We could probably make &#8216;gravity telescopes,&#8217; giving us images formed by gravity waves. Eventually. Maybe.<\/p>\n<p>Saying that we&#8217;re not close to building something like that is a massive understatement. Just detecting them is impressive today. So is telling where their source is.<\/p>\n<p>Getting a general bearing on incoming gravitational waves is possible because they travel at speed of light. We&#8217;re pretty sure about that. That seems to be as fast as anything can go through space-time.<\/p>\n<p>With at least one, probably two, exceptions.<\/p>\n<p>The last I heard, quantum entanglement is either instantaneous or significantly faster than light. Physicists don&#8217;t know why. Not yet.<\/p>\n<p>My guess is that the phenomenon, however it works, doesn&#8217;t show that Einstein&#8217;s theories aren&#8217;t true. Just that the universe has a new set of puzzles for us to solve.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#6\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"nobel\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">1. <\/span>Nobel Prize in Physics, 2017: LIGO Scientists<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-41476648\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171003-_98122282_1-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From AFP\/CALTECH\/EPA, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Weiss (L) takes half the prize; Barish (C) and Thorne (R) share the other half&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-41476648\">Einstein&#8217;s waves win Nobel Prize in physics<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPaul Rincon, Jonathan Amos, BBC News (October 3, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>The 2017 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to three US scientists for the detection of gravitational waves.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish will share the nine million kronor (\u00a3831,000) prize.<\/p>\n<p>The ripples were predicted by Albert Einstein and are a fundamental consequence of his General Theory of Relativity.<\/p>\n<p>The winners are members of the Ligo-Virgo observatories, which were responsible for the breakthrough&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m a little surprised about this Nobel Prize. It&#8217;s good news, of course, for the three scientists and their outfits: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology. It&#8217;s nice to see Americans get recognized, too.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s surprising is that it&#8217;s awarded so soon after the first detection. Nobel Prize in Physics rules say that achievements must be &#8220;tested by time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Early 2016 to 2017&#8217;s autumn isn&#8217;t much time. The Nobel Prize press release explains that the award recognizes personal work going back several decades.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#7\">7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>I talked about gravitational waves a few months back. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#gravity\">March 24, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re wrinkles in spacetime. Scientists figured they might exist, starting in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n<p>Technology developed during the 20th century let scientists start designing instruments that could detect gravitational waves. That started about a half-century back. By the 1980s we had prototypes.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"first1\"><\/a>First Observation<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LIGO\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171003-800px-Northern_leg_of_LIGO_interferometer_on_Hanford_Reservation-658.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Umptanum, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(The LIGO Washington State detector&#8217;s north arm.)<\/p>\n<p>The first LIGO observatory operated from 2002 to 2010. It detected no gravitational waves.<\/p>\n<p>No detection might mean that gravitational waves didn&#8217;t exist. Or maybe they existed but didn&#8217;t act as scientists thought they would.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists figured no detection probably meant that their first-generation technology wasn&#8217;t sensitive enough.<\/p>\n<p>That, I think, isn&#8217;t refusing to believe evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have been unreasonably stubborn, Priestley apparently ignored his era&#8217;s chemical science. It didn&#8217;t prove his phlogiston theory.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#8\">8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Assuming that their first efforts detected no gravity waves was acknowledging that LIGO technology can be improved. That&#8217;s how I see it.<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, they were right. Gravitational waves are there.<\/p>\n<p>Gravitational waves from merging black holes passed by Earth on September 14, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>The LIGO detectors in Washington State and Louisiana, operating in engineering mode, detected them. Scientists with LIGO and Virgo analyzed the 0.2-second &#8216;chirp,&#8217; publishing their results February 11, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>This may not be the single most important experimental confirmation in the last half-century. CERN scientists observed W and Z bosons in 1973, for example.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s important, too. Ranking experimental results for different phenomena can be more than a bit subjective.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#9\">9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>But detecting gravitational waves is very important for physicists and astronomers.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;ll let us &#8216;look&#8217; at this universe when it was very young. It was opaque for about the first 380,000 years.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cosmic_microwave_background\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171004-Ilc_9yr_moll4096-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>That&#8217;s when it cooled enough for photons to travel any significant distance.<\/p>\n<p>The cosmic microwave background is the the oldest electromagnetic radiation we&#8217;ve observed: or can observe.<\/p>\n<p>Gravitational waves don&#8217;t interact with matter the same way as electromagnetic waves. The early universe should have been transparent to gravitational waves in those very early years.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re hoping to learn a great deal about that era by observing gravitational waves.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"ego\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">2. <\/span>EGO: Fourth Gravity Wave Detection<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-41420188\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171002-_98046465_2015_11_06_virgoaerialview_toupload-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Virgo Collaboration, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;The VIRGO detector in Italy has helped narrow the search on the sky&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-41420188\">Gravitational wave hunters bag fourth black-hole detection<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPallab Ghosh, BBC News (September 27, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Scientists have detected another burst of gravitational waves coming from the merger of two black holes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The collision occurred nearly 2 billion years ago, but it was so far away that its shockwave has only just reached us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the fourth confirmed detection made by an international team investigating Einstein&#8217;s Theory of General Relativity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sheila Rowan of Glasgow University, UK, said the team was now on the threshold of a new understanding of black holes&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know who got the Virgo Collaboration started, or why they picked that name. They use VIRGO as an acronym sometimes. I haven&#8217;t learned what it stands for.<\/p>\n<p>In my language, it could mean Very Intelligent Researchers&#8217; Gravity Observatory. But I think that&#8217;s unlikely. Very unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>Whoever got the ball rolling, the project officially started when French and Italian researchers at CERN and INFN gave it their approval in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>Folks started building EGO, the European Gravitational Observatory, in 1996. It&#8217;s near Pisa. Construction was finished in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists and technicians had the first VIRGO detector ready in 2000. They stopped using it in 2011. They&#8217;d detected no gravitational waves.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s pretty much what they expected. Their first-generation detector wasn&#8217;t particularly sensitive. I gather that it was mainly a proof of concept device, with detection as a possible but unlikely bonus.<\/p>\n<p>Their tech behaved the way they hoped, so the European scientists got to work on more sensitive detectors.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#10\">10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Folks with LIGO and Virgo kept working on their own projects, and cooperating. This wasn&#8217;t a replay of the infamous bone wars. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/first-americans\/#scientists\">May 5, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"finding\"><\/a>Finding Nothing Means Something<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LIGO\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171003-800px-GW170814-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Where astronomers looked for gravitational wave event GW170814.)<\/p>\n<p>LIGO observatories in Washington State and Louisiana are about 3,002 kilometers apart. That&#8217;s 1,865 miles. At speed of light, a gravity wave would take up to ten milliseconds to travel between them. It&#8217;s not a long time, but long enough to detect.<\/p>\n<p>Add the Virgo observatory in Italy, and we&#8217;ve got three observation points for GW170814. That&#8217;s enough to get a bearing on where waves come from.<\/p>\n<p>Not a particularly precise bearing, though. Scientists narrowed down GW170814&#8217;s location to somewhere in a region of Earth&#8217;s sky the size of 300 full moons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-41420188\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170908ff\/20171002-_86860279_gravitational_waves_624_v2-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>The recent gravitational wave detection is Virgo&#8217;s first. That&#8217;s a big deal for the Virgo Collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also important because astronomers got a bearing on the wave&#8217;s source fast enough to follow up with optical telescopes.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a big search area. But several observatories were on the job, and we&#8217;re getting better at catching transient phenomena.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#11\">11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Astronomers figured they might spot something. They didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Again, not observing something doesn&#8217;t mean that something isn&#8217;t there.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, not spotting electromagnetic radiation from a gravitational wave source may mean that the merger of two black holes pulled in everything near them.<\/p>\n<p>Many theoretical models for how black holes merge say that&#8217;s what happens.<\/p>\n<p>Having the Virgo observatory&#8217;s observations and LIGO&#8217;s made measuring polarization of GW170814&#8217;s gravitational waves possible. That&#8217;s another &#8220;first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"its\"><\/a>It&#8217;s a Start<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/repeatable-results-that-arent\/#being\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170425-The_Scientific_Method_as_an_Ongoing_Process-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>We now have four more observations of gravitational waves than we did in early 2015. It&#8217;s a good start, but just a start.<\/p>\n<p>Detecting gravitational waves confirms that they exist, and that at least part of the math describing them reflects reality.<\/p>\n<p>Gathering data, testing predictions, is an important part of the scientific method.<\/p>\n<p>When some of the data isn&#8217;t quite what we expected, part of a scientist&#8217;s job is figuring out why it doesn&#8217;t match.<\/p>\n<p>Gravitational waves observed so far are a pretty good match to what scientists expected from black hole mergers. There&#8217;s an odd pattern emerging, though.<\/p>\n<p>All four collisions apparently involved black hole pairs where both were about the same mass. Getting pretty close matches four times in a row is odd. The pairs are a bit more massive than expected, too.<\/p>\n<p>Four is a small sample. More observations will almost certainly answer some questions: and, I think, raise many more.<\/p>\n<p>So will data from gravitational wave observatories in Japan and India.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#12\">12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"God\"><\/a>God Gave Us Brains<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tides-and-our-moons-origin\/#asking\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/nq130228-nq160824-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>I really do not believe that God gets offended when we use our brains.<\/p>\n<p>I think God sustains this universe. I also think that humans are rational creatures. We don&#8217;t consistently use our brains. That&#8217;s because we have free will. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#300\">300<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#311\">311<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a1.htm#1704\">1704<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1730\">1730<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1731\">1731<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes we make really bad decisions.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect part of the problem is that using emotions as a guide, following whatever impulse bobs up from our brain&#8217;s background processes, is easier than thinking.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re basically good, but got off to a really bad start.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s yet another topic. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/living-with-consequences\/#still\">March 5, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"euclid\"><\/a>Euclid, Alcubierre, and Beyond<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/White%E2%80%93Juday_warp-field_interferometer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160321ff\/20160323-2015NASA-JSCEagleworksWarp-fieldInterferometerTestSetUp-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Many scientists say Miguel Alcubierre&#8217;s math makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>The Alcubierre metric is a Lorentzian manifold \u2014 a way of describing space mathematically.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the sort of thing Euclid did: plus what some of my civilization&#8217;s best minds have been adding to the mix since then.<\/p>\n<p>Discussions have shifted from whether the Alcubierre equations make sense, to how they relate to the rest of observed reality. Also how we can use them.<\/p>\n<p>Data from the White-Juday warp-field interferometer tests may be inconclusive. I think that&#8217;s partly because we&#8217;re in a very new field.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/#13\">13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>My guess is that we&#8217;re centuries from flight testing a warp drive. It&#8217;s not the science so much as the engineering. And that&#8217;s yet again another topic.<\/p>\n<p>Euclid, Newton, Einstein, and still learning:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/new-worlds-the-search-continues\/\">New Worlds: The Search Continues<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(June 2, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/repeatable-results-that-arent\/\">Repeatable Results That Aren&#8217;t<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(April 28, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/knowledge-opening-the-gift\/\">Knowledge: Opening the Gift<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 26, 2017 )<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/\">Baryons, Gravity Waves<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 24, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/making-a-universe-why-bother\/\">Making a Universe: Why Bother?<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 29, 2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Studying this universe, the early years:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Classical_element\">Classical element<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emission_theory_(vision)\">Emission theory (vision)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empedocles\">Empedocles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Euclid\">Euclid<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Euclid%27s_Optics\">Euclid&#8217;s Optics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> Getting up to speed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albertus_Magnus\">Albertus Magnus<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hildegard_of_Bingen\">Hildegard of Bingen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ibn_al-Haytham\">Ibn al-Haytham<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Waves, particles; and gravity:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christiaan_Huygens\">Christiaan Huygens<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Robert_Boyle\">Robert Boyle<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Isaac_Newton\">Isaac Newton<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pierre_Gassendi\">Pierre Gassendi<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quantum_mechanics\">Quantum mechanics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Maybe not particles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michelson_interferometer\">Michelson interferometer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_A._Michelson\">Albert A. Michelson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Interferometry\">Interferometry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment\">Michelson-Morley experiment<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"5\"><\/a>5<\/sup> Revisiting gravity:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oliver_Heaviside\">Oliver Heaviside<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation\">Newton&#8217;s law of universal gravitation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9\">Henri Poincar\u00e9<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Einstein\">Albert Einstein<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"6\"><\/a>6<\/sup> A few questions answered, and lots more questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aether_theories\">Aether theories<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Corpuscular_theory_of_light\">Corpuscular theory of light<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aether_theories#Luminiferous_aether\">Luminiferous aether<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quantum_entanglement\">Quantum entanglement<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quantum_mechanics\">Quantum mechanics<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tests_of_general_relativity\">Tests of general relativity<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tests_of_general_relativity#Deflection_of_light_by_the_Sun\">Deflection of light by the Sun<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"7\"><\/a>7<\/sup> Nobel Prize in Physics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=J4-30n591U8C\">Physics, an Overview<\/a>&#8221; (page 69)<br \/>\nWikipedians, PediaPress<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/nobel_prizes\/physics\/laureates\/2017\/press.html\">Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nNobelPrize.org (October 3, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics\">Nobel Prize in Physics<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rainer_Weiss\">Rainer Weiss<\/a><br \/>\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barry_Barish\">Barry Barish<\/a><br \/>\nCalifornia Institute of Technology<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kip_Thorne\">Kip_Thorne<\/a><br \/>\nCalifornia Institute of Technology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"8\"><\/a>8<\/sup> Defending phlogiston:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley\">Joseph Priestley<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley#Calne_.281773.E2.80.9380.29\">Calne (1773-80)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley#Experiments_and_Observations_on_Different_Kinds_of_Air\">Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"9\"><\/a>9<\/sup> Physics, mostly:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ligo.caltech.edu\/page\/ligos-ifo\">LIGO&#8217;s Interferometer<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nLIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), Caltech<\/li>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First_observation_of_gravitational_waves\">First observation of gravitational waves<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LIGO\">LIGO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Timeline_of_fundamental_physics_discoveries\">Timeline of fundamental physics discoveries<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W_and_Z_bosons#Discovery\">W and Z bosons<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W_and_Z_bosons#Discovery\">Discovery<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"10\"><\/a>10<\/sup> European cooperation in science:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\/Wiktionary\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/European_Gravitational_Observatory\">European Gravitational Observatory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virgo_interferometer\">Virgo interferometer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/proof_of_concept\">proof of concept<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ego-gw.it\/index.aspx\">European Gravitational Observatory<\/a> (EGO)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ego-gw.it\/public\/virgo\/virgo.aspx\">VIRGO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ego-gw.it\/public\/about\/whatIs.aspx\">What is EGO<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.virgo-gw.eu\/\">Virgo<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.virgo-gw.eu\/#about\">About<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/public.virgo-gw.eu\/the-ego-consortium\/\">The EGO Observatory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/public.virgo-gw.eu\/virgo-in-a-nutshell\/\">Virgo in a nutshell<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"11\"><\/a>11<\/sup> Observing &#8216;blink and you&#8217;ll miss it&#8217; events:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transient_astronomical_event\">Transient astronomical event<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GW170814\">GW170814<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"12\"><\/a>12<\/sup> Gravitational wave observatories in India and Japan:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CLIO\">CLIO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indian_Initiative_in_Gravitational-wave_Observations\">Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/KAGRA\">KAGRA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/TAMA_300\">TAMA 300<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"13\"><\/a>13<\/sup> Very theoretical, but serious, physics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alcubierre_drive\">Alcubierre drive<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alcubierre_drive#Alcubierre_metric\">Alcubierre metric<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Metric_tensor\">Metric tensor<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Miguel_Alcubierre\">Miguel Alcubierre<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pseudo-Riemannian_manifold#Lorentzian_manifold\">Pseudo-Riemannian manifold<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pseudo-Riemannian_manifold#Lorentzian_manifold\">Lorentzian manifold<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/White%E2%80%93Juday_warp-field_interferometer\">White-Juday warp-field interferometer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Einstein&#8217;s theories gave scientists good reasons for thinking gravitational waves exist. A century later, instruments detected the elusive radiation. Three American scientists won this year&#8217;s Nobel Prize in Physics for work that led to the discovery. Observatories in America and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/einsteins-waves-new-views\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,31,59,27,114,22],"class_list":["post-1728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-astronomy","tag-citizenship","tag-cosmology","tag-history","tag-physics","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-rS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8403,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions\/8403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}