In this talk Sir James will discuss progress in the field of gravitational wave detection, from the first days of the aluminium bar detectors to the present time, where the laser interferometer detectors Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo have allowed gravitational waves to be detected and are opening up a new field of gravitational multi-messenger astrophysics with a number of ground breaking discoveries. Many experimental challenges had to be overcome and new challenges are presenting themselves as we look to further enhance the performance of ground based detectors and look to lower frequencies with the space based detector LISA.
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The award
The Bakerian Lecture series began in 1775 and is the premier lecture in physical sciences.
Sir James Hough OBE FRS was awarded the Bakerian Medal and Lecture 2020 for his world-leading work on suspensions systems for the test masses used in laser interferometry, pivotal to the successful detection of gravitational waves.
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