Subject: Gravitational waves events - Monday 10am & 3pm in PSC lobby

Description:
All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the following campus
events:

Monday, October 16 at 10 a.m. in Physical Sciences Complex lobby - Press
Conference Viewing
Join us as we watch live the press conference that will reveal new details
and discoveries made in the ongoing search for gravitational waves.
Scientists (including some from UMD) representing the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Virgo, and some 70 observatories will
speak during the press conference, which will begin with an overview of new
findings from LIGO, Virgo, and partners that span the globe, followed by
details from telescopes that work with the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations to
study extreme events in the cosmos. More on the press conference:
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243379.

Monday, October 16 at 3 p.m. in Physical Sciences Complex lobby - Seminar
Join us for a seminar that will broadly highlight the scientific implications
of the important new discoveries announced at 10 a.m. This discussion will be
hosted by the Joint Space-Science Institute and will include speakers from
the Department of Physics, Department of Astronomy and NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center.

Background:
The first detection of gravitational waves, made on September 14, 2015, and
announced on February 11, 2016, was a milestone in physics and astronomy. It
confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of
relativity and marked the beginning of the new field of gravitational-wave
astronomy. Since then, there have been three more confirmed detections, one
of which (and the most recently announced) was the first confirmed detection
seen jointly by both the LIGO and Virgo detectors. For more information on
gravitational wave astronomy at UMD, visit
https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/3976.

Event Date: October 16, 2017
Event Location: Physical Sciences Complex Lobby
Contact Person: Abby Robinson
Contact Email: [log in to unmask]