CALLINGTON Community College has recently welcomed Dr Duncan Macleod of Louisiana State University, who addressed students explaining the science behind gravitational-wave signals and their detection.

This visit coincided with a press conference from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, of which Dr Macleod is a member, and the Virgo collaboration, announcing identification of a second gravitational wave event in the data from Advanced LIGO detectors.

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration is a group of scientists seeking to make direct detection of gravitational waves, using them to explore the fundamental physics of gravity, and develop the emerging field of gravitational wave science as a tool of astronomical discovery.

Founded in 1997, the LSC is currently made up of approximately 1,000 scientists from dozens of institutions and 15 countries worldwide.

On December 26 2015, scientists observed gravitational waves for the second time.

Callington College’s students from Years 10 to 13 were privileged to hear about the exciting results from this project, with the founders being likely to be in the running for a Nobel Prize.