Professor Nicholas Lockerbie was presented with the award, which recognises the outstanding achievements of scientists working in Scotland, by RSE President Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime, arriving at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe – for example, two black holes colliding. The discovery, in September 2015, and a subsequent detection in December the same year, confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity, and opened an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.
Professor Lockerbie is based at Strathclyde’s Department of Physics, which was rated first in the UK for research by the latest national assessment. He said: “I am delighted, and very proud, to have received this medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. It is a great honour.
“Gravitational waves were discovered on 14 September 2015 by the two giant LIGO detectors in the USA, and this last year certainly has proved very exciting, with a second discovery of two colliding black holes by LIGO on Boxing Day 2015.
“However, it has been a long journey to get to this point, and the detections themselves are the culmination of many years of scientific and technical effort by an international team known as the LIGO Scientific Collaboration – which has just over 1,000 members from 83 institutions, spread across 15 countries; and here in Scotland, the University of Strathclyde has indeed played its part.”
Professor Lockerbie was awarded the medal for leadership of the work at Strathclyde which resulted in contributions to the electrostatic drive and sensor systems, for the control of the Advanced LIGO suspension structures – essential for the subsequent detection.
In the same week:
- Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal of the University, took up his appointment as Chairman of the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Committee
- the RSE announced that Strathclyde’s Professor Rebecca Lunn has been elected to join their Council, from April 2017.
Links