Three men just won a Nobel Prize for the work of more than a thousand people

1 experiment. 1,011 people.
CalTech Advanced LIGO
CalTech Advanced LIGO CalTech

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In 2015, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration’s twin observatories detected gravitational waves—one of Einstein’s major predictions. The feat, which just won a Nobel Prize, made a few famous. But it depended on this legion of the unsung.

People responsible LIGO’s detection of gravitational waves:

R.C. Essick • T.G.F. Li • A. Pal-Singh • L. Barsotti • C. Palomba • L. Gergely • E. Goetz • S. Biscans • N.D. Smith • H. Wang • M. Cho • A.W. Muir • B. Mours • M. Fays • D. Simakov • J.H. Poeld • T. Prestegard • I.W. Harry • D.J. McManus • R. Poggiani • A.M. Cruise • K. Danzmann • G. Cerretani • X. Wang • G. Heinzel • S.P. Stevenson • J.J. Oh • C.M. Mow-Lowry • K.C. Cannon • M.C. Edwards • L. Zangrando • M.H. Wimmer • A. Heidmann • C.L. Mueller • J.D. Romano • E.C. Ferreira • D. Bersanetti • S.E. Barclay • M. Bazzan • H.S. Cho • V. Dolique • F. Kawazoe • Z. Zhou • C. Bogan • M. Bitossi • P.R. Brady • C. Mishra • M. Branchesi • E.J. Daw • M. Steinke • L. Prokhorov • S. Mirshekari • R. Weiss • C.H. Lee • S.E. Whitcomb • A.F. Brooks • A.G. Wiseman • N. Van Bakel • R. Birney • E.A. Huerta • A. Pele • D.S. Rabeling • E. Coccia • M.R. Smith • M. Korobko • J.R. Sanders • T. Souradeep • C. Affeldt •  J.E. Brau • I. Dave • J.A. Clark • A.M. Sintes • Y. Zhang • M. Lorenzini • C.V. Torres • M. Davier • M. Zevin • T. Briant • Z. Khan • Y. Wang • S. Sachdev • M.S. Kehl • R. Everett • M. Montani • S.T. Countryman • B.C. Stephens • M. Wade •

B. Patricelli • M. Vardaro • M. Pitkin • B.C. Moore • S.L. Danilishin • S. Grunewald • I. Kowalska • G. Mazzolo • P.M. Meyers • M.A. Bizouard • M. Ast • F. Baldaccini • J. Schmidt • S. Raja • J. Zweizig • A. Singer • M. Hendry • S.D. Reyes • C. Belczynski •  O. Lousto • D.M. Coward • M. Pürrer • L.S. Finn • F. Clara • A. Gatto • A.S. Bell • C.F. Da Silva Costa • A. Pai • A. Melatos • B.F. Schutz • B.C. Barish • F. Cleva • D.J. Vine • G. González • R.D. Williams • R.T. DeRosa • J. ­Bartlett • G. Serna • L. Kuo • M. Mantovani • C.C. Buchanan • A.W. Heptonstall • N. Indik • B.C. Pant • S. Koley • G. Islas • N. Christensen • F. ­Matichard • Archisman Ghosh • D.R. Ingram • T. Regimbau • M. Cabero • I. Di Palma • R.P. Fisher • M. R. Abernathy • A.D. Silva • A. Buonanno • S.D. Antonio • S.E. Dwyer •

C. Zhao • J. Meidam • A. Gopakumar • R. Schnabel • I. Maksimovic • B. Machenschalk • B.L. Swinkels • Y. Pan • R. Mittleman • L. Rei • J.M. Isac • K. Mason • M. Heurs • S. Chao • V. Pierro • D. Cook • J.T. Whelan • H.A.G. Gabbard • G. Newton • A. Pasqualetti • I. Khan • D. Huet • C. Casentini • A.J. Weinstein • A. Kontos • H. Pan • M.C. Heintze • V. Germain • J.P. Zendri • T. D. Abbott • V. Malvezzi • E.A. Khazanov • P.J. King • C. Baune • T. Callister • P. Schale • G. Cella • C. Wilkinson • S. Ghosh • S. Huang • D.E. McClelland • M.C. Díaz • D.J. Murphy • C. Graef • B.D. Lackey • N.M. Brown • B.K. Berger • E. Katsavounidis • T. Adams • H. Vahlbruch • S.M. Koehlenbeck • R. Bonnand • D. DeBra • A. Post • I. Mandel • T. Vo • D. Talukder • X. Fan • S.E. Hollitt • P. Shawhan • N. Kijbunchoo • M. Walker • C.V. Kalaghatgi • L.W. Wei • M. Saleem • L. Rolland • D. Schuette • M. Phelps • F. Barone • H. Yu • A.L. ­Lombardi • J. Read • L. Sadeghian • G. Lovelace • H. Ward • A. Schönbeck • P. Astone • A. Brillet • C.P.L. Berry • S. Husa • M.E. Zucker • D.A. Brown • A. Glaefke • W.D. Vousden • J.R. Leong • P.F. Cohadon • M. Favata • L. Gondan • R. Bork • P. Brockill • N. Arnaud • J. Birch • D.V. Martynov • L. Sun • D.I. Jones • E. Merilh • R. Singh • J. Oberling • E.E. Cowan • B.J. Owen • K.L. Dooley • L. Cunningham • D. Trifirò • R. Vaulin • G.H. Sanders • H. Vocca • W. Parker • S.A. Usman • P. Groot • T.B. Littenberg • J.C. Barayoga • N.A. Gordon • D. Moraru • T.P. Downes •  M.W. Coughlin •

M. Neri • J. Powell • F. ­Nocera • P.J. Veitch • D. Ugolini • J.R. Smith • S. Bloemen • B. Day • F.J. Raab • A. Corsi • W. Del Pozzo • M. Pichot • T. Huynh-Dinh • V. Tiwari • K. Kim • J.P. Coulon • L. Kleybolte • L. Matone • S. Hild • K.A. Hodge • J. Harms • S. Frasca • B. Sassolas • L. Trozzo • R. Cavalieri • M.A. Arain • M. Di Giovanni • G. Kang • R. Kennedy • A. Sheperd • L. Naticchioni • M.J. Hart • S.H. Oh • J. O’Dell • S. Tiwari • K. Jani • P. Oppermann • M. Haney • P. Couvares • S.G. Gaonkar • M. MacInnis • C. Pankow • K. Siellez • F. Frasconi • K.A. Thorne • J.D.E Creighton • J.J. Hacker • G.H. Ogin • F. Sorrentino • P. Kumar • M. Rakhmanov • M. Punturo • M. Zanolin • M. Zhou • G. Hammond • R. Schilling • P. Raffai • F. Ricci • F. Cavalier • A. Paoli • V.B. Adya • S. Ascenzi • E.G. Thomas • M. Lormand • G. Vajente • L. Milano • W. Kells • J. Luo • G. Stratta • E. Capocasa • R.S. Ottens • P. Ehrens • D.J. Hosken • L.T. London • R. McCarthy • Y. Chen • S. Kandhasamy • L.R. Price • F. Garufi • R. Gustafson • H. Fong • J. Cao • E. Calloni • S. Gras • G. Traylor • A. Conte • A. Gupta • C. Hanna • G.A. Prodi • M. Bejger • A.R. Wade • H. Fehrmann • M. DeLaurentis • B. Weaver • S. Vitale • J.H. Chow • I. Yakushin • G. Woan • R. Jones • A.L. Stuver • V. Predoi •  J.C. Driggers •

J. Casanueva Diaz • D.L. Kinzel • P. Weßels • K. Kokeyama • J. Ming • M. Prijatelj • T.Z. Summerscales • S.J. Waldman • A. Lenon • T.D. Creighton • C. Biwer • D. Passuello • E.J. Howell • G. Wu • P.J. Sutton • P. Popolizio • O. Puncken • D. Tuyenbayev • L. Cerboni Baiardi • C.S. Unnikrishnan • K.A. Strain • S. Koranda • H. Miao • L. Wallace • G. Wang • A. Chincarini •

B.S. Sathyaprakash • B. Sandeen • A. Nitz • G. Ballardin • H. Dereli • F. Robinet • F. Donovan • D.G. Blair • A. Rüdiger • G. Gemme • V.J. Roma • X. Siemens • M. van Beuzekom • Y.M. Hu • S. Privitera • K.V. Tokmakov • J.K. Blackburn • C.D. Capano • E. Cesarini • M. Leonardi • N. Aggarwal • R. Bassiri • D. Steinmeyer • P.R. Saulson • P. Puppo • A. Effler •

D. Mukherjee • E.A. Quintero • R. Pedurand • B.L. Pearlstone • C. Lazzaro • R.M.S. Schofield • E. Chassande-Mottin • G. Romanov • S.S. Eikenberry • A. Colla • C.G. Collette • J. Hanks • G. Cagnoli • B. Lantz • M. Evans • D.M. Macleod • C. Messick • J. Eichholz • S.C. McGuire • P. Fritschel • Richard J. Oram • M. Tonelli • O. Bock • Y. Setyawati • E. Oelker • K. Ryan • P. Ajith • C.D. Ott • F. Martelli • S. Steinlechner • P. Hopkins • S. Rowan • D. Barta • T. MacDonald • D.H. Shoemaker • E. ­Maros • G. Ciani • J. Veitch • W. Engels • N.S. Darman • J. Scott • O. Sauter • S.H. Huttner • J.L. Willis • J.D. Lough • V.P. Mitrofanov • H. Lück • G. Valdes • H. Wittel • A. Freise • D.B. Kelley • D.G. Keppel • S. Jawahar • K. Kawabe • G. Bergmann • R.M. Blair • M. Factourovich • A. Staley • B. Barr • F. Paoletti • M. Turconi • S.J. Chamberlin • J.L. Wright • J.V. Van Heijningen • Z. Du • M.S. Shahriar • S. Strigin • S. Caride • M.M. Hanke • D. Pascucci • M.J. Szczepańczyk • D.M. Shoemaker • F. Piergiovanni • B. Krishnan • M. Granata • R. Bhandare • P.T. Baker • M. Boer • H.P. Daveloza • H. Fair • M.M. Fejer • A.B. Nielsen • E.J. King • P. Schmidt • M. Masso-Reid • S. Babak • S.M. Aston • R.J.E. Smith • M. Kasprzack • Q. Fang • J. Qin • J. Kim • J.B. Camp • J.M. Gonzalez Castro • O. Piccinni • L. Williams • S. Mukherjee • P. Charlton • D.C. Coyne • O. Palashov • R.M. Martin • V. ­Loriette • J. Munch • A. Grant • P. Ruggi • D. Buskulic • M. Cavaglià • F. Carbognani • G. Ashton • S. Cortese • N. Cornish • C.-J. Haster • M. ­Manske • I. Bartos • T.J. Massinger • N.A. Strauss • A.S. Markosyan • F. Ferrini • E.K. Gustafson • H.R. Paris • C. Vorvick • N.A. Robertson • T.P. Bodiya • N. Mavalvala • V. Fafone • S.A. Pai • M.L. Gorodetsky • V.V. Frolov • T. Etzel • T. Dent • M.J. Cowart • A. Viceré • Y. Ma • J. Degallaix • V. ­Mandic • J.B. Kanner • P.B. Graff • J. McIver •

H.P. Pfeiffer • V. Sandberg • P. Bacon • H.K. Lee • R. Kumar • N. Man • V.B. Braginsky • B.P. ­Abbott • M. Mageswaran • R. Stone • E. Genin • R. Robie • B.R. Hall • K. Mossavi • E. Cuoco • P. Thomas • R. Frey •B.J.J. Slagmolen • D.B. Kozak • K. Haris • A. Cumming • J.R. Palamos • F. Pannarale • T. Dal Canton • M. Constancio • M. Agathos • H. Qi • C.I. Torrie • Y.M. Kim • W.Z. Korth • D. Voss • A.C. Green • F. Kéfélian • A. Ain • X.J. Zhu • C. Cheng • H.Y. Chen • J.R. Gair • K. Gill • Abhirup Ghosh • N. Leroy • S. Karki • A. Masserot • S. Caudill • E. Ochsner • J.R. Gleason • I.S. Heng • C.M. Reed • B.A. Boom • S. Márka • S.E. Gossan • L. Cadonati • P. Leaci • D. Barker • G.M. Harry • V. Bavigadda • S. Mitra • L. Winkelmann • A.S. Sengupta • S.M. Scott • G. Dojcinoski • R. Taylor • V. Frey • J. Calderón Bustillo • M. Was • M. Fyffe • M.C. Araya • P. Jaranowski • R. De Rosa • L. Cominsky • B. O’Reilly • T.B. Edo • J.A. Giaime • R. Douglas • B. Gendre • J. Heefner • K. Arai • M. Barsuglia • G. Mueller • L.K. Nuttall • B. Sorazu • M.A. Barton • G. Losurdo • T. Theeg • R. Passaquieti • D. Sellers • V. Kringel • K. Lee • E.A. Houston • S.R. Morriss • F.Y. Khalili • M. Weinert • C.J. Moore •  K. Izumi •

A. Moggi • A. Samajdar • T.M. Evans • A. Neunzert • G. Greco • A. ­Taracchini • F. Marion • G. Kuehn • L. Pekowsky • G. Hemming • J.H. Romie • I. Ferrante • P.D. Lasky • D.D. Brown • K. Venkateswara • F. Mezzani • S. Deléglise • K. Craig • M. Yvert • E. Schreiber • J. Logue • R.W.P. Drever • M. Drago • S. Dhurandhar • A. Buikema • S.S. Premachandra • J. Cripe • T. Westphal • D. Keitel • A. Mullavey • P. Kwee • M.K. Gupta • L.M. Sampson • P. Aufmuth • S. Penn • A. Idrisy • J. Prasad • S. Di Pace • A. Zadrożny • G. Debreczeni • Z. Márka • G. Billingsley • F. Jiménez-Forteza • R. Gouaty • K. Wiesner • S.R.P. Mohapatra • L. Wen • V. Necula • T. Bulik • S. ­Fairhurst • A.P. Lundgren • K.E. Gushwa • W. Katzman • I. Nardecchia • S. Doravari • F. Acernese • S. Chung • C. Aulbert • R. Romano • S. Reid • A. Sawadsky • R.J.G. Jonker • Arunava Mukherjee • H. Yamamoto • C. Bond • J. Hanson • A. Di Lieto • D. Feldbaum • H. Radkins • C.R. Ramet • L. Ju • R. Abbott • R.J.S. Greenhalgh • N.K. Johnson-McDaniel • H. Middleton • M. Landry • T.T. Fricke • T.T. ­Nguyen • G.S. Davies • M.E.N. Normandin • A. Kutynia • R. Goetz • K.G. Arun •J.F.J. van den Brand • Nam-Gyu Kim • M. Mohan • M. Thomas • R. Flaminio • S. ­McCormick • G. Gaur • M.C. Tringali • R. Chakraborty • J. Worden • M. Pickenpack • J.S. Key •

R.L. Byer • R. X. Adhikari • I.A. Bilenko • H.J. Bulten • F. Bondu • G. Vedovato • C.C. Arceneaux • H. Grote • R. DeSalvo • O. Birnholtz • J. Bergman • M. Tacca • S. Vinciguerra • J. Healy • S. Shah • A.K. ­Srivastava • A. Sevigny • V. Mangano • D. Meacher • V. Boschi • D.C. Vander-Hyde • K. Wette • M. ­Razzano • B. Farr • S. Leavey • D.E. Holz • D.J. White • M.P. Thirugnanasambandam • S.G. Crowder • T. Kaur • L. Sammut • R. Prix • W. Winkler • A. Giazotto • S. Bhagwat • H.B. Eggenstein • S.T. McWilliams • S. Meshkov • T. Sadecki • F. Travasso • B.M. Levine • V. Kalogera • J. Miller • J.S. Kissel • S. Farinon • A. Sergeev • A. Perreca • B. Allen • M. Fletcher • L. Di Fiore • A. Basti • L.E. Wade • C.C. Wipf • N. Mazumder • D. Mendoza-Gandara • E.E. Mikhailov • M. Frede • A. Bozzi • W.W. Johnson • F. Zhang • M. Gosselin • M.T. Hartman • J.Y. Vinet • G. Bogaert •

T. Hardwick • C. Van Den Broeck • P. Fulda • D. Verkindt • A. Singh • S. Kaufer • J. Warner • F. Fidecaro • P. Bojtos • A.R. Williamson • D. Hofman • B. Hughey • V. Dergachev • I.W. Martin • A. Di Virgilio • J. Hennig • L. Van Der Schaaf • J.C. Batch • M. Chan • M. Principe • C.D. Blair • E.D. Hall • L.P. Singer • C. Cahillane • Namjun Kim • R. Coyne • M. Wang • C. Bradaschia • A. Khalaidovski • G.M. Guidi • C. Michel • L. Pinard • M. Zhang • C. Buy • H. Heitmann • G. McIntyre • P.A. Willems • A. Bisht • N. Straniero • J.N. Marx • I.M. Pinto • R.L. Ward • H. Overmier • C.B. Cepeda • M. Tápai • B. Behnke • S. Vass • R.L. Savage • F. Magaña-Sandoval • L. Salconi • T.R. Corbitt • R.A. Mercer • T. Welborn • G. Moreno • S. Franco • R. Inta • J. Yablon • M. Ducrot • O. D. Aguiar • C.A. Costa • M.D. Hannam • Z. Shao • T. Chalermsongsak • B. Shapiro • J. Betzwieser • A. Singhal • J.E. Lord • Z. Patrick • J.S. Areeda • G. Nelemans • Y. Levin • Y. Bouffanais • C. Messenger •

S. Bose • M. Millhouse • K. Agatsuma • V. Brisson • N. Mukund • C.J. Bell • K. Holt • C. Krueger • A. Lazzarini • M. Isi • N.A. Lockerbie • P. A. Altin • A. Vecchio • M. Vasúth • T. Shaffer • D. Fiorucci • M.K.M. Bader • E. Majorana • M. Pedraza • V. Dattilo • E.J. Son • D. Sentenac • V. Sequino • K. Riles • T. Jacqmin • L. Zhang • S.P. Tarabrin • D. Sigg • H.N. Isa • C.C. Yancey •  M.A. Papa •

D. Töyrä • R. O’Shaughnessy • S. Walsh • B. Willke • K. Nedkova • P.G. Murray • C. Tomlinson • B.R. Iyer • M. Oliver • H. Rew • A. Mytidis • C. Adams • V. Quetschke • K. Haughian • A. Libson • D. Hoak • M. Vallisneri • E.O. Lebigot •  M. Tse •

J. Lange • D. Rosińska • K.S. Thorne • H. Jang • G.L. Mansell • W.G. Anderson • N. Letendre • E.J. Sanchez • R.M. Magee • A. Chiummo • I. Fiori • M. Shaltev • S.B. Coughlin • R. Quitzow-James • F. Vetrano • L. Martellini • A. Bohe • S.B. Anderson • A. Allocca • S. Klimenko • S.W. Ballmer • D.A. Shaddock • D.H. Reitze • S.E. Zuraw • W. Yam • L. Aiello • D. Nolting • P. Addesso • N. Gehrels • P. Hello • W.M. Farr • S. De • C. Kim • F. Ohme • D.J. Ottaway • M.B. Jacobson • G. Mendell • J.G. Rollins • L. Gammaitoni • B.F. Whiting • S. Khan • J. Hough • V. Re • H.M. Lee • V. Raymond • S.P. Vyatchanin • A.A. Van Veggel • F. ­Salemi • G. Mitselmakher • A.L. Urban • K. Ackley • E. Thrane • X. Guo • C. Gray • J. Steinlechner • L. Conti • T. Denker • F. Marchesoni • P. ­Rapagnani • Q. Chu • M.J. Yap • J. George • M. Brinkmann • A. Gennai • J.D. Fournier • M. Merzougui • T. Isogai • S. Nissanke • G.D. Meadors • S. Chua • R. Lynch • A. Bertolini • V. Kondrashov • R.K. Nayak • Z. Frei • Y. Minenkov • R. Sturani • A. Rocchi • K.D. Giardina • G. Pillant • A. Królak

People who won the Nobel Prize for LIGO’s detection of gravitational waves:

R. Weiss • B. Barish • K. Thorne

A version of this article was originally published in the May/June 2017 issue of Popular Science.

 
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