Maybe Quote by Rainer Weiss
“When we initially proposed LIGO, the only sources that we were really contemplating were supernovae. We thought we would see something like one a year, maybe even ten a year.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: LIGO proposal presentation, early 1990s
Early expectations for gravitational‑wave detection were modest, focused on rare supernova events.
In simple terms: We thought we'd see few events per year.
Key Takeaway
Prepare for surprising discoveries.
Themes
science
expectation
technology
Mood
anticipatory
optimistic
Type
historical
technical
When to use this quote
- research planning
- funding proposals
- public outreach
- collaborative experiments
Key Concepts
gravitational waves
astrophysics
instrumentation
Questions to Reflect On
- How did broader source types change LIGO's impact?
- What assumptions limit scientific forecasts?
A Different Perspective
Reality exceeded predictions, revealing many more sources than anticipated.
