Gravitational Waves and the Source of the Gold in Nobel Medals

The direct detection of Gravitational Waves with kilometer-scale laser interferometers has begun to pay dividends on the decades of both theoretical and instrumental research invested in their development. After spectacularly detecting the first known Binary Black Hole coalescence in September 2015, and more recently the first Binary Neutron Star coalescence in association with a short Gamma Ray Burst and kilonova in August 2017, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations have placed stringent limits on deviations from General Relativity and are beginning to feel out distinct populations of sources. Essick will summarize the technology which allows us to detect these faint signals along with the current state of the field. He will also discuss several novel measurements enabled by Gravitational Waves and conclude by looking forward to the next few years.