LIGO Scientific Collaboration

History

The LSC was established in 1997 as part of a reorganization of the LIGO Project under the leadership of Barry Barish. Its mission is to ensure equal scientific opportunity for individual participants and institutions by organizing research, publications, and all other scientific activities, and it includes scientists from both LIGO Laboratory and collaborating institutions. Barish appointed Rainer Weiss as the first spokesperson. Subsequent spokespersons have been elected by members of the LSC.

LSC members have access to the US-based Advanced LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and in Livingston, Louisiana, as well as the GEO600 detector in Sarstedt, Germany. Under an agreement with the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), LSC members also have access to data from the Virgo detector in Pisa, Italy. While the LSC and the Virgo Collaboration are separate organizations, they cooperate closely and are referred to collectively as "LVC". In 2019, the Japanese KAGRA collaboration signed an agreement to collaborate with the LSC and Virgo and the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collective is called "LVK".

On 11 February 2016, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced that they succeeded in making the first direct gravitational wave observation on 14 September 2015.

Collaboration leaders

Collaboration member groups

Institutional members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration as of July 2025, from public summary of the LSC roster https://my.ligo.org/census.php

Notes

References

References

1. "LSC/Virgo Census". myLIGO.
2. "About the LSC". LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
3. (2004). "Setting Priorities for Large Research Facility Projects Supported by the National Science Foundation". [[National Academies Press]].
4. Gabriela González. (2015-12-06). "Open call for partnership for the EM identification and follow-up of GW candidate events".
5. Whitney Clavin. (2019-10-04). "KAGRA to Join LIGO and Virgo in Hunt for Gravitational Waves".
6. Twilley, Nicola. "Gravitational Waves Exist: The Inside Story of How Scientists Finally Found Them". [[The New Yorker]].
7. Abbott, B.P.. (2016). "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger". [[Phys. Rev. Lett.]].
8. Naeye, Robert. (11 February 2016). "Gravitational Wave Detection Heralds New Era of Science". [[Sky and Telescope]].
9. (11 February 2016). "Einstein's gravitational waves found at last". Nature News.
10. (2017-03-31). "LIGO Scientific Collaboration Elects David Shoemaker as Spokesperson".
11. "UW-Milwaukee astrophysicist elected spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration {{!}} Newswise: News for Journalists".
12. (2025-05-19). "Cardiff scientist elected to lead global gravitational-wave collaboration".