Barry Barish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barry Barish
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Barish in 2005
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Barry Clark Barish
January 27, 1936 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
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| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA, PhD) |
| Spouse(s) | Samoan Barish |
| Children | 2 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of California, Riverside Stony Brook University California Institute of Technology Sapienza University of Rome |
| Thesis | A study of the reaction negative pion plus proton going to negative pion plus neutral pion plus proton at 310 and 377 MEV (1962) |
| Doctoral advisor | A. Carl Helmholz |
| Doctoral students | Kate Scholberg |
Barry Clark Barish (born January 27, 1936) is an American experimental physicist. He is a Nobel Laureate and a top expert on gravitational waves. He works at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
In 2017, Barish won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared it with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne. They were honored for their big contributions to the LIGO detector. This work led to the first observation of gravitational waves. Barish once said, "I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough."
After his Nobel win, he joined the University of California, Riverside in 2018. In 2023, he also became a special professor at Stony Brook University. That same year, President Biden gave him the National Medal of Science.
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Early Life and School
Barry Barish was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Lee and Harold Barish, came from Jewish families in Poland. After World War II, his family moved to Los Feliz in Los Angeles. He went to John Marshall High School.
He studied physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his first degree in 1957. Then, he got his PhD in experimental high energy physics in 1962. In 1963, he joined Caltech. He worked there for many years, becoming a professor.
Amazing Discoveries
Barish's early work involved using powerful particle accelerators. He studied how tiny particles called neutrinos collide. These experiments helped show that quarks are the building blocks of matter. They also confirmed theories about how forces work at a tiny scale.
In the 1980s, he led an experiment called MACRO in Italy. This project looked for rare particles called magnetic monopoles. It also studied cosmic rays from space. His work helped confirm that neutrinos have mass and can change types.
Leading the LIGO Project
In the early 1990s, Barish became very involved with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). He became its main leader in 1994 and director in 1997. LIGO is a huge science project. It aims to detect tiny ripples in space-time called gravitational waves.
Barish helped get funding for LIGO. He oversaw the building of its giant detectors in Louisiana and Washington. He also brought together over 1000 scientists from around the world. This group, called the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, works together on the project.
First Detection of Gravitational Waves
LIGO's detectors became very sensitive. They were able to search for signals from space. On September 14, 2015, something amazing happened. LIGO detected the collision of two massive black holes. This was the first time gravitational waves were directly seen.
This discovery proved a prediction Albert Einstein made 100 years earlier. It also opened a whole new way to study the universe. Barish was the first to share this exciting news with other scientists in 2016.
Awards and Honors
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Barry Barish has received many important awards for his work.
- In 2002, he got the Klopsteg Memorial Award.
- He received honorary doctorates from the University of Bologna (2006) and the University of Florida (2007).
- In 2013, the University of Glasgow also gave him an honorary science degree.
- In 2016, he was called a "Titan of Physics" at the World Science Festival.
- He won the Enrico Fermi Prize in 2016. This was for his key role in forming the LIGO collaboration. It also recognized his work in solving tough problems that led to the first gravitational wave detection.
- He received the Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in 2016.
- In 2017, he was awarded the Henry Draper Medal. This was for his leadership in developing LIGO. His work was crucial for finding gravitational waves.
- He also received the Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize in 2017.
- He shared the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award with Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss.
- The Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award was also given to him in 2017. This was for his leadership in building LIGO.
- The biggest honor came in 2017: the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared it with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne. This was for their vital work on the LIGO detector and observing gravitational waves.
- In 2018, he was named Alumnus of the Year by the University of California, Berkeley.
- He received honorary doctorates from Southern Methodist University and Sofia University in 2018.
- In 2023, he received the first-ever Copernicus Prize from Poland. This award honors people who make huge contributions to science.
- Also in 2023, he was given the National Medal of Science. This award recognized his groundbreaking research on tiny particles. It also honored his leadership of LIGO, which broadened our understanding of the universe.
Barish is also a member of several important science groups. These include the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society. He was even president of the American Physical Society in 2011.
Family Life
Barry Barish is married to Samoan Barish. They have two children, Stephanie Barish and Kenneth Barish. Kenneth is also a physics professor. Barry and Samoan also have three grandchildren: Milo Barish Chamberlin, Thea Chamberlin, and Ariel Barish.
See also
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
