HomeMy WebLinkAboutLIGO Month - February 2021
Proclamation
“LIGO/VIRGO Gravitational-Wave Antenna Month”
February 2021
WHEREAS, in 1984, the National Science Foundation (NSF) approved a development plan for the
Large Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which led to a 1990 construction proposal
and the section of Hanford, Washington as one of two sites in 1992; and
WHEREAS, on September 14, 2015, LIGO’s two sites together achieved the world’s first detection of
gravitational waves, whose existence had been predicted 99 years earlier by Albert Einstein, for which
LIGO co-founders Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in
Physics, “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves;” and
WHEREAS, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), is a professional association
with over 423,000 members worldwide, and which has dedicated 212 IEEE Milestones honoring significant
technical and scientific achievements throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, IEEE’s 213th Milestone titled “Gravitational-Wave Antenna, 1972-1989” bearing a
citation reading, in part, “In 2015, LIGO antennas, located here and in Louisiana, first detected gravitational
waves produced 1.3 billion years ago from two merging black holes” will be dedicated at the LIGO site on
February 3; and
WHEREAS, Pasco, Washington recognizes the extraordinary achievements of the LIGO gravitational-
wave antennas; and
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Saul Martinez, Mayor of the City of Pasco, Washington, on behalf of the
entire City Council, do hereby proclaim February, 2021 as
“LIGO/VIRGO Gravitational-Wave Antenna Month”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Official Seal of the City of
Pasco, State of Washington, to be affixed this 1st day of February, 2021.
Saul Martinez, Mayor
City of Pasco