Go Quote by Rainer Weiss
“I said, suppose you take a light - I was thinking of just light bulbs because, in those days, lasers were not yet really there - and sent a light pulse between two masses. Then you do the same when there's a gravitational wave. Lo and behold, you see that the time it takes light to go from one mass to the other changes because of the wave.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: Scientific American, 2005
The quote describes using light pulses between masses to detect gravitational waves by measuring timing changes caused by the wave.
In simple terms: Light timing changes reveal gravitational waves.
Key Takeaway
Use precise timing to detect spacetime ripples.
Themes
physics
astronomy
measurement
Mood
curious
inquisitive
Type
technical
explanatory
When to use this quote
- LIGO experiments
- spacecraft navigation
- precision timing
- educational demonstrations
Key Concepts
General relativity
interferometry
Questions to Reflect On
- How can timing precision be improved?
- What other phenomena could be measured this way?
A Different Perspective
Requires extremely stable lasers and isolation from noise.
![“He [Mikhail Gorbachev] has, as many great leaders have, impressive eyes…There's a kind of laser-beam stare, a forced quality, you get from Gorbachev that does not come across as something peaceful within himself. It's the look of a kind of human volcano, or he'd probably like to describe it as a…” quote by Dan Rather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ed6/dan-rather-2779_beam_he-mikhail-gorbachev-has-as-many-great-l_117079.jpg)
