Recommended Reading, Video
Below are some videos and print items related to the U.S. National Science Foundation Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (NSF LIGO) that we recommend to anyone interested in learning more about NSF LIGO and its mission, or about gravitational waves in general.
LIGO Films
- The Advanced LIGO Documentary Project comprises several videos on the history of gravitational-wave science, including the 9-episode documentary series "LIGO: A DISCOVERY THAT SHOOK THE WORLD," which was produced by a collaboration including Caltech, MIT, the LIGO Laboratory, and director Les Guthman.
- LIGO films by Kai Staats, including "LIGO Generations", "LIGO, A Passion for Understanding", and "LIGO Detection".
Educational Videos
- The Invisible Colors of the Universe
Runtime: 5 mins
Describes how to detect gravitational waves with the Pulsar Timing Array, Pablo Rosado - LIGO: On the Front Lines of Space-Time
Runtime: 6 mins
An APS-TV video by WebsEdge Education - Gravitational wave astronomy -- opening a new window on the Universe
Runtime: 15 mins
TEDxGlasgow talk by LSC member Dr. Martin Hendry - The Search for Gravitational Waves
Runtime: 75 mins
New York University Colloquium by LIGO’s Prof. Alan Weinstein
Reading
- Science Summaries: available in many languages, these are condensed and simplified versions of a selection of LIGO's published papers.
- The ABCs of LIGO (Amber Strunk). Click for a free PDF of this LIGO-themed children's picture book.
- Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: The Story of a Gamble, Two Black Holes, and a New Age of Astronomy. (Marcia Bartusiak; Yale University Press). This updated version of Bartusiak's "Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time" gives a historical recount of the long hunt for Einstein’s predicted gravitational waves—and celebrates their recent discovery.
- The Science of Interstellar (Thorne; W. W. Norton & Company). This book, written by LIGO's Kip Thorne, explores the real science behind the sci-fi film Interstellar (2014, dir. Christopher Nolan) at an entry level.
- Gravity’s Kiss (Harry Collins; MIT Press). This book continues the work on gravitational waves that Harry Collins began with Gravity’s Ghost and Gravity’s Shadow. It is written at a very accessible level and serves as an insider account of the discovery of gravitational waves, from the very first email to the first published paper and the response of the public.
- Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy (Thorne; W. W. Norton & Company, Commonwealth Fund Book Program). This book explores the history of general relativity, black holes, and gravitational waves at an accessible (but slightly more technical) level.
- Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves (Daniel Kennefick; Princeton University Press). Delivered at a more technical level, this book details how scientists arrived at a settled theory of gravitational waves through years of controversy.
- Gravitation (Misner, Wheeler, Thorne; Princeton University Press). This is a landmark general relativity textbook delivered at a graduate level while maintaining a contemporary and conversational tone.
