At Brigham Young University (BYU), Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne, often referred to as the modern Galileo, discussed his groundbreaking work that helped confirm Albert Einstein's theory of gravitational waves. This theory was supported by a remarkable event in the distant past: two black holes collided in a galaxy billions of years ago, creating a burst of gravitational waves that traveled across the universe for 1.3 billion years before reaching our Milky Way galaxy. When these waves arrived, around 50,000 years ago, our ancestors shared the Earth with Neanderthals.
The quest to detect these elusive waves began four decades ago with a global collaboration. Kip Thorne, along with colleagues at MIT and CalTech, started in 1972 to develop a method to prove Einstein's theory of gravitational waves. While humans can detect electromagnetic waves, the second type of wave predicted by Einstein remained undetectable for a century. Galileo's pioneering work in electromagnetic astronomy, which began 415 years ago, laid the foundation for modern astronomy by using instruments to observe Jupiter's moons. Similarly, Thorne's team aimed to detect gravitational waves, a challenge that required decades of effort.
The team grew from a small group of Thorne's colleagues and students to a formidable team of 1,000 scientists and engineers. On September 14, 2015, their efforts paid off when they detected the gravitational waves from the black hole collision. This discovery made headlines worldwide, confirming Einstein's theory. Thorne, along with Rainer Weiss and Barry Barish, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 for their contributions.
Thorne's influence extends beyond science. He contributed to the scientific concept and backstory of the blockbuster movie 'Interstellar,' which grossed over $771 million. On Thursday, BYU students and faculty eagerly filled the Joseph Smith Building auditorium to hear Thorne speak. The event attracted a large audience, including Thorne's high school classmate and debate partner, Elder Quentin L. Cook, and Elder Gerrit W. Gong, both members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In a surprising revelation, Thorne hinted at a potential challenge to the widely accepted big bang theory. He suggested that the scientific research expanding from his team's work might disprove the favored version of the big bang theory, despite its simplicity and elegance in explaining the universe's origins. Thorne speculated that observations of primordial gravitational waves could lead to this breakthrough in the coming decades.
Thorne's perspective on the Nobel Prize is also intriguing. He believes the prize should have been shared among all 1,000 scientists and engineers involved in the project. In 1972, Thorne initially doubted the feasibility of the gravitational wave detector idea proposed by Rainer Weiss. However, after three years of study and collaboration, he became convinced of its potential. Thorne committed to working with Weiss and others on the LIGO Project, a collaboration that received funding from Congress through the National Science Foundation.
Looking ahead, Thorne is excited about the future of gravitational wave research. He envisions a 40-kilometer successor to LIGO, called Cosmic Explorer, and a similar project by the Europeans called the Einstein Telescope. By the late 2030s, scientists plan to deploy three additional types of gravitational-wave detectors in different frequency bands, including LISA, radio telescopes, and observations of cosmic microwave polarization. These projects could lead to groundbreaking discoveries about the early universe and the big bang theory.
Thorne concludes by emphasizing the potential for revolutionary discoveries in the field of cosmology. He believes that the universe often surprises scientists, and these unexpected findings can lead to profound advancements in our understanding of the cosmos.
