Feb 11 2016
Daniel Kennefick, associate professor of physics at the University of Arkansas and expert on Albert Einstein, is available to comment on the anticipated announcement that scientists have confirmed Einstein’s theory about gravitational waves.
Daniel Kennefick
His book, Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves, describes in detail the efforts by theorists from then on to develop the theoretical framework with has enabled the new signals to be recognized amidst the noise of the detector. His recent book, The Einstein Encyclopedia – with co-authors Alice Calaprice and Robert Schulmann – also discusses Einstein’s contributions to gravitational wave theory.
Kennefick began researching gravitational waves as a graduate student at CalTech under astrophysicist Kip Thorne, at the time that Thorne reoriented his research group to focus on theoretical issues related to LIGO’s detection of gravitational waves, including modeling of sources and data analysis techniques.
Kennefick studied the long controversy within the theoretical community over whether
gravitational waves exist or would be emitted by the kind of binary system that has apparently been discovered. Kennefick’s scholarship brought to public attention Einstein’s initial doubts over whether gravitational waves exist.
CONTACTS:
Daniel Kennefick, associate professor
J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
479-575-6784 FREE, [email protected]
Chris Branam, research communications writer/editor
University Relations
479-575-4737 FREE, [email protected]
Source: http://www.uark.edu/