On March 31, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and India's Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to lead the way for establishing an advanced gravitational-wave detector in India. The MOU was jointly signed by the NSF Director Dr. France A. Córdova and the DAE secretary Dr. Sekhar Basu in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

2016 Apr 4--8, Bangalore

On 2016 February 11, the LIGO-Virgo collaborations jointly announced the discovery of gravitational waves. The signal, produced by the collision of two black holes in the distance universe, was detected by two LIGO observatories on 2015 September 14. This confirms a major prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and opens a new observational window onto the universe.

For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.

From the Media Advisory issued by LIGO Scientific Collaboration

LIGO Laboratory at California Institute of Technology hosts a 10-week summer student research program every year, called the LIGO SURF Program. Considering the imminent possibility of the LIGO-India project, LIGO has graciously agreed to host a few talented and motivated undergraduate students from Indian institutions, pre-selected by IndIGO, as part of this program.

Applications are invited for 3 short term positions at Max Planck Partner Group on GWaves at
IISER TVM. See this link for more details on this position.

For further queries contact archana (at) iisertvm.ac.in

28 December 2015 - 1 January 2016
M A College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, Kerala

IUCAA Resource Centre, CUSAT, Kochi in collaboration with the Department of Physics, M A College of Arts and Science, Kothamangalam is organising a National School on Gravitational Waves.

Applications are invited for internships at a large grid-computing center located at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (ICTS-TIFR), Bangalore. This computing center is dedicated to the storage and analysis of the data collected by the LIGO observatories — a major international effort dedicated to the first detection of gravitational waves.

The Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave observatories in the USA have been officially dedicated in a ceremony held on Tuesday, May 19, at the LIGO Hanford facility in Richland, Washington state. This marks a major step in the international effort for the first direct detection of gravitational waves.

29 Jun 2015 to 10 Jul 2015, Bangalore

The International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, TIFR is organizing a Summer School on Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Bangalore from The school is aimed at training students and young researchers in the emerging area of gravitational-wave astronomy.