Opening Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

In 2015, Advanced LIGO observed a signal from merging black holes, directly detecting gravitational waves a century after Einstein predicted them. The measurement opened a way to study cosmic events through spacetime vibrations rather than electromagnetic light.

Weiss’s legacy is as much methodological as technological: estimate the effect, enumerate what can imitate it, and build an experiment capable of distinguishing the two. The eventual observation vindicated decades of patient collaborative instrumentation.