Gravity's shadow : the search for gravitational waves

According to the theory of relativity, we are constantly bathed in gravitational radiation. When stars explode or collide, a portion of their mass becomes energy that disturbs the very fabric of the space-time continuum like ripples in a pond. But proving the existence of these waves has been difficult; the cosmic shudders are so weak that only the most sensitive instruments can be expected to observe them directly. Fifteen times during the last thirty years scientists have claimed to have detected gravitational waves, but so far none of those claims have survived the scrutiny of the scientific community. __Gravity's Shadow__ chronicles the forty-year effort to detect gravitational waves, while exploring the meaning of scientific knowledge and the nature of expertise.Gravitational wave detection involves recording the collisions, explosions, and trembling of stars and black holes by evaluating the smallest changes ever measured. Because gravitational waves are so faint, their detection will come not in an exuberant moment of discovery but through a chain of inference; for forty years, scientists have debated whether there is anything to detect and whether it has yet been detected. Sociologist Harry Collins has been tracking the progress of this research since 1972, interviewing key scientists and delineating the social process of the science of gravitational waves.Engagingly written and authoritatively comprehensive, __Gravity's Shadow__ explores the people, institutions, and government organizations involved in the detection of gravitational waves. This sociological history will prove essential not only to sociologists and historians of science but to scientists themselves. CONTENTS 8 Preface 16 Acknowledgments 20 Common Acronyms in Gravitational Wave Research 24 Introduction: Two Kinds of Space-Time 26 Part I: A La Recherche Des Ondes Perdues 46 Chapter 1: The Start of a New Science 48 Chapter 2: From Idea to Experiment 60 Chapter 3: What Are Gravitational Waves? 91 Chapter 4: The First Published Results 99 Chapter 5: The Reservoir of Doubt 122 Chapter 6: The First Experiments by Others 141 Chapter 7: Joe Weber’s Findings Begin to Be Rejected in the Constitutive Forum 160 Chapter 8: Joe Weber Fights Back 167 Chapter 9: The Consensus Is Formed 179 Chapter 10: An Attempt to Break the Regress: The Calibration of Experiments 214 Chapter 11: Forgotten Waves 221 Chapter 12: How Waves Spread 231 Part II: Two New Technologies 238 Chapter 13: The Start of Cryogenics 240 Chapter 14: Nautilus 259 Chapter 15: Nautilus, November 1996 to June 1998 279 Chapter 16: The Spheres 285 Chapter 17: The Start of Interferometry 290 Chapter 18: Caltech Enters the Game 309 Part III: Bar Wars 328 Chapter 19: The Science of the Life after Death of Room-Temperature Bars 330 Chapter 20: Scientific Institutions and Life after Death 354 Chapter 21: Room-Temperature Bars and the Policy Regress 383 Chapter 22: Scientific Cultures 417 Chapter 23: Resonant Technology and the National Science Foundation Review 460 Chapter 24: Ripples and Conferences 474 Chapter 25: Three More Conferences and a Funeral 479 Chapter 26: The Downtrodden Masses 505 Chapter 27: The Funding of LIGO and Its Consequences 514 Part IV: The Interferometers and the Interferometeers-From Small Science to Big Science 538 Chapter 28: Moving Technology: What Is in a Large Interferometer? 540 Chapter 29: Moving Earth: The Sites 550 Chapter 30: Moving People: From Small Science to Big Science 571 Chapter 31: The Beginning of Coordinated Science 583 Chapter 32: The Drever Affair 597 Chapter 33: The End of the Skunk Works 609 Chapter 34: Regime 3: The Coordinators 617 Chapter 35: Mechanism versus Magic 628 Chapter 36: The 40-Meter Team versus the New Management, Continued 661 Chapter 37: Regime 4 (and 5): The Collaboration 672 Part V: Becoming a New Science 684 Chapter 38: Pooling Data: Prospects and Problems 686 Chapter 39: International Collaboration among the Interferometer Groups 701 Chapter 40: When Is Science? The Meaning of Upper Limits 723 Part VI: Science, Scientists, and Sociology 754 Chapter 41: Coming On Air: The Study and Science 756 Chapter 42: Methodology as the Meeting of Two Cultures: The Study, Scientists, and the Public 770 Chapter 43: Final Reflections: The Study and Sociology 808 Chapter 44: Joe Weber: A Personal and Methodological Note 825 Coda: March-April 2004 838 Appendices 848 Intro.1: What Is Small? 849 Intro.2: Gravitational Waves, Gravitational Radiation, and Gravity Waves: A Note on Terminology 851 Intro.3: Roger Babson’s Essay, “Gravity—Our Enemy Number One” 853 Appendix III.1: Colonial Cringe 857 Appendix V.1: The Method 859 References 862 Index 880 According to the theory of relativity, we are constantly bathed in gravitational radiation. When stars explode or collide, a portion of their mass becomes energy that disturbs the very fabric of the space-time continuum like ripples in a pond. But proving the existence of these waves has been difficult; the cosmic shudders are so weak that only the most sensitive instruments can be expected to observe them directly. Fifteen times during the last thirty years scientists have claimed to have detected gravitational waves, but so far none of those claims have survived the scrutiny of the scientific community. Gravity's Shadow chronicles the forty-year effort to detect gravitational waves, while exploring the meaning of scientific knowledge and the nature of expertise. Gravitational wave detection involves recording the collisions, explosions, and trembling of stars and black holes by evaluating the smallest changes ever measured. Because gravitational waves are so faint, their detection will come not in an exuberant moment of discovery but through a chain of inference; for forty years, scientists have debated whether there is anything to detect and whether it has yet been detected. Sociologist Harry Collins has been tracking the progress of this research since 1972, interviewing key scientists and delineating the social process of the science of gravitational waves. Engagingly written and authoritatively comprehensive, Gravity's Shadow explores the people, institutions, and government organizations involved in the detection of gravitational waves. This sociological history will prove essential not only to sociologists and historians of science but to scientists themselves. Harry Collins. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 837-854) And Index.