Nobel Physics Prize 2017: LIGO scientists win award for discovery of gravitational waves

In decisive contributions in the observation of gravitational waves, three scientists Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics.

“This is something completely new and different, opening up unseen worlds,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement on awarding the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million)prize.

“A wealth of discoveries awaits those who succeed in capturing the waves and interpreting their message.”

All the above mentioned scientists have played a leading role in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or Ligo, experiment, which made the first historic observation of gravitational waves in September 2015.