Learn More

KAGRA to Join LIGO and Virgo in Hunt for Gravitational Waves

News Release • October 4, 2019

Japan's Kamioka Gravitational-Wave Detector (KAGRA) to team up with LIGO and Virgo in the search for gravitational waves.

Learn More

LIGO's Commissioning Break Commences

News Release • October 1, 2019

LIGO begins month-long break for maintenance/ upgrades

Learn More

LIGO's Third Observing Run Started with a Bang!

News Release • August 12, 2019

22 candidate GW events in the first 4 months of O3

Learn More

LIGO Announces Commissioning Break

News Release • July 12, 2019

Learn More

LIGO and Virgo Detect Neutron Star Smash-Ups

News Release • May 2, 2019

LIGO and VIrgo detect gravitational waves from what appears likely to be a crash between two neutron stars, and possibly a neutron star-black hole collision.

Learn More

First Public Gravitational Wave Alert Issued!

News Release • April 11, 2019

LIGO and Virgo have sent out their first-ever “public alert”, informing the world of a possible gravitational wave detection. The candidate event occurred on April 8, 2019.

Learn More

LIGO and Virgo Resume Search for Ripples in Space and Time

News Release • March 26, 2019

The National Science Foundation's LIGO is set to resume its hunt for gravitational waves on April 1, after receiving a series of upgrades to its lasers, mirrors, and other components.

Learn More

LIGO and Virgo to Begin Third Observing Run on April 1, 2019

News Release • March 20, 2019

Learn More

The O2 Data Set Is Now Available

News Release • February 27, 2019

LIGO and Virgo announce the release of the strain data from the O2 observing run.

Learn More

LIGO Receives New Funding to Search for More Extreme Cosmic Events

News Release • February 14, 2019

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards Caltech and MIT $20.4 million to upgrade LIGO.

Learn More

LIGO and Virgo Announce Four New Gravitational-Wave Detections

News Release • December 3, 2018

The National Science Foundation's LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the European-based VIRGO gravitational-wave detector have published new results from the first two Observing runs. Four new black hole mergers are newly announced, The LIGO and Virgo collaborations have now confidently detected gravitational waves from a total of 10 stellar-mass binary black hole mergers and one merger of neutron stars, which are the dense, spherical remains of stellar explosions.

Learn More

Winners of the 2018 Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration Are Announced

News Release • November 20, 2018

Winners of the 2018 Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration are announced.

Learn More

LIGO Scientists Awarded New Horizons in Physics Prize

News Release • October 17, 2018

Learn More

LIGO Prepares for Third Observing Run

News Release • September 21, 2018

Staff at LIGO Hanford and Livingston are hard at work finishing critical upgrades and preparing for the start of LIGO's third observing run, O3, scheduled to begin sometime early 2019.

Learn More

LIGO Laboratory Announces The Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration

News Release • September 14, 2018

LIGO Laboratory announces The LIGO Lab Award for Excellence in Detector Characterization and Calibration

Learn More

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Receives Breakthrough Prize

News Release • September 10, 2018

The LIGO Lab and LIGO Scientific Collaboration congratulate Jocelyn Bell Burnell for receiving the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Learn More

C.E.K. Mees Medal awarded to Stanley Whitcomb

News Release • August 20, 2018

LIGO’s Stanley Whitcomb recently received 2018 C.E.K. Mees Medal from the Optical Society.  Whitcomb is being recognized for his pioneering, diverse interdisciplinary contributions to the LIGO gravitational wave detectors.  The award recognizes “an original use of optics across multiple fields.” 

Learn More

LIGO Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Historic Binary Neutron Star Merger Detection

News Release • August 17, 2018

Learn More

LIGO Congratulates IceCube on Multimessenger Astronomy Success

News Release • July 16, 2018

The LIGO Laboratory congratulates the IceCube neutrino observatory team on its recent multimessenger astronomy success!

Learn More

LIGO Designated APS Historic Site

News Release • June 15, 2018

On June 20th, LIGO's two detector sites will be designated historic sites by the American Physical Society. The two observatories - one in Livingston, Louisiana and one in Hanford, Washington - will receive plaques recognizing the historic nature of the first direct detection of gravitational waves.

Learn More

New Video: LIGO: A Discovery that Shook the World

News Release • February 22, 2018

The National Science Foundation funded Advanced LIGO Documentary Project released a new video looking at information coming from first multi-messenger detection of colliding neutron stars. On August 8, 2017, LIGO joined forces with Virgo and over 70 astronomical observatories to look at a neutron star merger through gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves (light). This video explores the significance of that event.

Learn More

New Ron Drever Gravitational Wave Scholarship Announced

News Release • January 2, 2018

The family of a pioneering Scottish physicist has donated a substantial portion of his estate to support a postgraduate research scholarship at the University of Glasgow.

Learn More

Physics World 2017 Breakthrough of the Year Award

News Release • December 11, 2017

Physics World announced that the first multi-messenger detection of a neutron star merger was 2017's breakthrough of the year. LIGO was one of over 50 collaborations involved with this breakthrough.

Learn More

Nobel Prize Week

News Release • December 6, 2017

LIGO Founders Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish will be awarded the Nobel prize this week in Stockholm, Sweden. On Friday, Dec. 8th they will deliver their Nobel lectures. On Sunday, Dec. 10th they will receive their medals as part of the Nobel award ceremony.

Learn More

Adalberto Giazotto, 1940-2017

News Release • November 20, 2017