Rainer Weiss

Rainer Weiss was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Gertrude Loesner and Frederick A. Weiss.{{Cite web|url=http://emvogil-3.mit.edu/~weiss/rw/rwbiog.pdf|title=Weiss CV at mit.edu}}{{cite news |title=MIT physicist Rainer Weiss shares Nobel Prize in physics |date=October 3, 2017 |work=MIT News |url=https://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-physicist-rainer-weiss-shares-nobel-prize-physics-1003 }} His father, a physician, neurologist, and psychoanalyst, was forced out of Germany by Nazis because he was Jewish and an active member of the Communist Party. His mother, an actress, was Christian.{{cite web|title=Rainer Weiss Biography|url=http://www.kavliprize.org/sites/default/files/Rainer%20Weiss%20autobiography.pdf|publisher=kavliprize.org|access-date=July 7, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013133206/http://www.kavliprize.org/sites/default/files/Rainer%20Weiss%20autobiography.pdf|url-status=dead}} His aunt was the sociologist Hilda Weiss.

The family fled first to Prague, but Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia after the 1938 Munich Agreement caused them to flee again; the philanthropic Stix family of St. Louis helped them obtain visas to enter the United States.{{cite web|url=http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/183/1/Weiss_OHO.pdf |title=Interview with Rainer Weiss |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology |author= Shirley K. Cohen |date=May 10, 2000|access-date=October 22, 2017}} Weiss spent his youth in New York City, where he attended Columbia Grammar School.

He studied at MIT, dropping out at the beginning of his junior yearCho, Adrian (August 4, 2016). "[https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-college-dropout-who-invented-gravitational-wave-detector Meet the College Dropout who Invented the Gravitational Wave Detector]", Science. Retrieved May 20, 2019. with the excuse that he had abandoned his coursework to pursue a romantic relationship with a music student from Chicago.{{Cite web |last=Goodman |first=Daniel |date=2019 |title=Find Your Path: Unconventional Lessons from 36 Leading Scientists and Engineers |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262537544/find-your-path/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=MIT Press |pages=239-51 |language=en-US}} While this affair was a contributing factor, Weiss's concurrent vacillation between MIT's engineering and physics tracks may also have played a significant role. Jerrold Zacharias, then an influential physicist and MIT professor, intervened, and Weiss, after working as a technician in Zacharias's lab, eventually returned to receive his S.B. degree in 1955. He would complete his Ph.D. in 1962, still with Zacharias as advisor/mentor.{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/302113994/ |title=Stark effect and hyperfine structure of hydrogen fluoride |date=1962 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |type=Ph.D. |last=Weiss |first=Rainer |via=ProQuest |url-access=subscription |oclc=33374441}}

He taught at Tufts University from 1960 to 1962, was a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton University from 1962 to 1964, and then joined the faculty at MIT in 1964.

For Weiss's initial work at MIT, he started a group studying cosmology and gravitation. Needing to develop new technology, particularly in regards to the stabilization of equipment set to measure minute fluctuations, his lab included machine and electronics shop, with a hands-on expectation of his students for fabrication and design.

He had an idea during this period regarding the building of a Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), but believed that such a machine could not be built with the then current technologies, because it could not "actually" be constructed with sufficient sensitivity.

By 1966, Weiss's tenure at MIT was at risk because of the failure of his group to produce publications. On advice from Bernard Burke, then head of the division on astrophysics in the Physics Department, Weiss recalibrated his standards for submitting articles for publication, eventually finding grounds for publication that he believed met his personal standards as scientifically worthy and publishable. He was then able to qualify for tenure and remain at MIT.

In 1973, Weiss was forced to pivot with his work as the US military cut funding for any science that was not determined to be "directly relevant to its core mission." Weiss wrote a proposal to the NSF that described "a new way to measure gravitational waves." This was the work that would eventually lead to his 2017 Nobel Prize, though it was many years before the interferometers Weiss and his students built were sensitive enough to actually detect gravitational waves, making for numerous unpleasant doctoral thesis defenses where Weiss's graduate students were unable to present positive (in layman's terms: any) results.

Weiss at MIT and Kip Thorne at Caltech joined forces in the early 1980s in recognition of the scale of work and resources necessary to bring the gravitational wave project to fulfillment.

In a 2022 interview given to Federal University of Pará in Brazil, Weiss talks about his life and career, the memories of his childhood and youth, his undergraduate and graduate studies at MIT, and the future of gravitational waves astronomy.{{Cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzqllWPc8tw&t=1462s&ab_channel=Interviews%2FEntrevistasUFPA |title=Interview with Rainer Weiss (2017 Physics Nobel Prize Laureate) |publisher=Federal University of Pará |year=2022}}

Weiss brought two fields of fundamental physics research from birth to maturity: characterization of the cosmic background radiation, and interferometric gravitational wave observation.

In 1973 he made pioneering measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation, taken from a weather balloon, showing that the microwave background exhibited the thermal spectrum characteristic of the remnant radiation from the Big Bang. He later became co-founder and science advisor of the NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which made detailed mapping of the radiation.

Weiss also pioneered the concept of using lasers for an interferometric gravitational wave detector, suggesting that the path length required for such a detector would necessitate kilometer-scale arms. He built a prototype in the 1970s, following earlier work by Robert L. Forward.Cho, Adrian (October 3, 2017). "[https://www.science.org/content/article/ripples-space-us-trio-wins-physics-nobel-discovery-gravitational-waves Ripples in space: U.S. trio wins physics Nobel for discovery of gravitational waves]," Science. Retrieved May 20, 2019.Cervantes-Cota, Jorge L., Galindo-Uribarri, Salvador, and Smoot, George F. (2016). "[https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.09400 A Brief History of Gravitational Waves]," Universe, 2, no. 3, 22. Retrieved May 20, 2019. He co-founded the NSF LIGO (gravitational-wave detection) project,{{Cite news|title = Got gravitational waves? Thank NSF's approach to building big facilities|url = https://www.science.org/content/article/got-gravitational-waves-thank-nsf-s-approach-building-big-facilities|journal = Science Magazine|access-date = 2017-11-14|issn = 1095-9203|first = Jeffrey|last = Mervis}} which was based on his report "A study of a long Baseline Gravitational Wave Antenna System".Linsay, P., Saulson, P., and Weiss, R. (1983). "[https://dcc.ligo.org/public/0028/T830001/000/NSF_bluebook_1983.pdf A Study of a Long Baseline Gravitational Wave Antenna System], NSF. Retrieved May 20, 2019.

Both of these efforts couple challenges in instrument science with physics important to the understanding of the Universe.{{cite journal|url=http://www.ligo.org/magazine/LIGO-magazine-issue-1.pdf#page=8|title=The Evolution of Advanced LIGO|journal=LIGO Magazine|year=2012|issue=1|author=David Shoemaker}}

In February 2016, he was one of the four scientists of LIGO/Virgo collaboration presenting at the press conference for the announcement that the first direct gravitational wave observation had been made in September 2015.{{Cite news|title = Gravitational Waves Exist: The Inside Story of How Scientists Finally Found Them|url = http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/gravitational-waves-exist-heres-how-scientists-finally-found-them|newspaper = The New Yorker|access-date = 2016-02-11|issn = 0028-792X|first = Nicola|last = Twilley}}{{cite journal |author=Abbott, B.P. |title=Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger |journal=Phys. Rev. Lett. |volume=116 |issue=6 |pages=061102 |year=2016 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102 |display-authors=etal |pmid=26918975|arxiv=1602.03837 |bibcode=2016PhRvL.116f1102A |s2cid=124959784 }}{{cite news |last=Naeye |first=Robert |url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/gravitational-wave-detection-heralds-new-era-of-science-0211201644/ |title=Gravitational Wave Detection Heralds New Era of Science |work=Sky and Telescope |date=February 11, 2016 |access-date=February 11, 2016 }}{{cite journal |title=Einstein's gravitational waves found at last |journal=Nature News|url=http://www.nature.com/news/einstein-s-gravitational-waves-found-at-last-1.19361 |date=February 11, 2016 |last1=Castelvecchi |first1=Davide |last2=Witze |first2=Alexandra |doi=10.1038/nature.2016.19361 |s2cid=182916902|access-date=February 11, 2016 }}{{efn|Other physicists presenting were Gabriela González, David Reitze, Kip Thorne, and France A. Córdova from the NSF.}}

Classical music was a profound influence and shaping force in Weiss's life, from his early youth in an immigrant family, through his shared love of Beethoven's Spring Sonata, which cemented his deep personal relationship with mentor Jerrold Zacharias.

He married and had his first child while still in graduate school, "the best time of my life."

Rainer Weiss has been recognized by numerous awards including:

• In 2006, with John C. Mather, he and the COBE team received the Gruber Prize in Cosmology.
• In 2007, with Ronald Drever, he was awarded the APS Einstein Prize for his work.{{cite web|url=http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Weiss&first_nm=Rainer&year=2007|title=Prize Recipient|publisher=aps.org}}
• In 2016 and 2017, for the achievement of gravitational waves detection, he received:

::*The Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics,{{Cite web|url=https://breakthroughprize.org/News/32|title=Breakthrough Prize – Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Awarded For Detection of Gravitational Waves 100 Years After Albert Einstein Predicted Their Existence|date=May 2, 2016|website=breakthroughprize.org|location=San Francisco|language=en|access-date=2017-10-03}}

::*Gruber Prize in Cosmology,{{Cite web|url=http://gruber.yale.edu/cosmology/press/2016-gruber-cosmology-prize-press-release|title=2016 Gruber Cosmology Prize Press Release|date=May 4, 2016|website=gruber.yale.edu|publisher=The Gruber Foundation|language=en|access-date=2017-10-03}}

::*Shaw Prize,{{Cite web|url=http://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=254&fourid=476|title=Shaw Prize 2016|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=March 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303094456/http://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=254&fourid=476|url-status=dead}}

::*Kavli Prize in Astrophysics{{Cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/9-scientific-pioneers-receive-the-2016-kavli-prizes-300278385.html|title=9 Scientific Pioneers Receive The 2016 Kavli Prizes|first=The Kavli|last=Prize|website=www.prnewswire.com}}

::*The Harvey Prize together with Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever.[https://harveypz.net.technion.ac.il/harvey-prize-laureates/ Harvey Prize 2016]

::*The Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the Physical Science category, with Kip Thorne and Barry Barish.{{cite web|title=Meet the Team of Scientists Who Discovered Gravitational Waves|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/wave-catchers-ligo-team-winner-smithsonian-ingenuity-awards-2016-physical-sciences-180961124/|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}

::*The Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, 2017.{{cite web|title=The Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics|url=http://lambaward.org/|access-date=March 17, 2017}}

::* Princess of Asturias Award (2017) (jointly with Kip Thorne and Barry Barish).{{Cite web|url=https://www.fpa.es/en/error404.do|title=The Princess of Asturias Foundation|website=www.fpa.es}}

::* The Nobel Prize in Physics (2017) (jointly with Kip Thorne and Barry Barish)

::*Fellowship of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters{{cite web|url=http://english.dnva.no/c40134/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40149|title=Group 2: Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics|publisher=Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters|access-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222162631/http://english.dnva.no/c40134/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40149|archive-date=December 22, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

• In 2018, he was awarded the American Astronomical Society's Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation "for his invention of the interferometric gravitational-wave detector, which led to the first detection of long-predicted gravitational waves."{{cite web |title=Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation |url=https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/joseph-weber-award-astronomical-instrumentation |publisher=American Astronomical Society}}
• In 2020 he was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.{{cite web|url=https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/aas-fellows|title=AAS Fellows|publisher=AAS|access-date=1 October 2020}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Magnetic Moments and Hyperfine Structures Anomalies of Cs₁₃₃, Cs₁₃₅ and Cs₁₃₇

|first1=R. |last1=Weiss|first2=H.H. |last2=Stroke|first3=V. |last3=Jaccarino |first4=D.S. |last4=Edmonds

|journal=Phys. Rev.

|volume=105

|pages=590–603

|year=1957

|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.105.590

|issue=2

|bibcode = 1957PhRv..105..590S }}

• {{cite journal

|title=Molecular Beam Electron Bombardment Detector

|author=R. Weiss

|journal=Rev. Sci. Instrum.

|volume=32

|pages=397–401

|year=1961

|doi=10.1063/1.1717386

|issue=4

|bibcode = 1961RScI...32..397W }}

• {{cite journal

|title=A Search for a Frequency Shift of 14.4 keV Photons on Traversing Radiation Fields

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=L. Grodzins

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Physics Letters

|volume=1

|pages=342

|year=1962

|doi=10.1016/0031-9163(62)90420-1

|issue=8

|bibcode = 1962PhL.....1..342W }}

• {{cite journal

|last=Weiss

|first=Rainer

|title=Stark Effect and Hyperfine Structure of Hydrogen Fluoride

|journal=Phys. Rev.

|volume=131

|pages=659–665

|year=1963

|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.131.659

|issue=2

|bibcode = 1963PhRv..131..659W }}

• {{cite journal

|title=A Gravimeter to Monitor the _OS_O Dilational Model of the Earth

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=B. Block

|name-list-style=amp |journal=J. Geophys. Res.

|volume=70

|pages=5615

|doi=10.1029/JZ070i022p05615

|year=1965

|bibcode=1965JGR....70.5615W

|issue=22}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Experimental Test of the Freundlich Red-Shift Hypothesis

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=G. Blum

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Phys. Rev.

|volume=155

|pages=1412

|year=1967

|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.155.1412

|issue=5

|bibcode = 1967PhRv..155.1412B }}

• {{cite journal

|title=Electric and Magnetic Field Probes

|author=R. Weiss

|journal=Am. J. Phys.

|volume=35

|pages=1047–1048

|year=1967

|doi=10.1119/1.1973723

|issue=11

|bibcode = 1967AmJPh..35.1047W }}

• {{cite journal

|title=Laser-Induced Fluorescence in a Molecular Beam of Iodine

|author= R.Weiss and S. Ezekiel

|journal=Phys. Rev. Lett.

|volume=20

|pages=91–93

|year=1968

|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.20.91

|bibcode=1968PhRvL..20...91E

|issue=3}}

• {{cite journal

|title=A Measurement of the Isotropic Background Radiation in the Far Infrared

|journal=Phys. Rev. Lett.

|volume=24

|pages=742

|year=1970

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=D. Muehlner

|name-list-style=amp |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.24.742

|bibcode=1970PhRvL..24..742M

|issue=13}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Electromagnetically Coupled Broadband Gravitational Antenna

|url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/56271/RLE_QPR_105_V.pdf?sequence=1#page=38

|journal=Quarterly Progress Report, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT

|volume=105

|pages=54

|year=1972

|author=R. Weiss}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Balloon Measurements of the Far Infrared Background Radiation

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=D. Muehlner

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Phys. Rev. D

|volume=7

|pages=326

|year=1973

|doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.7.326

|issue=2|bibcode = 1973PhRvD...7..326M }}

• {{cite journal

|title=Further Measurements of the Submillimeter Background at Balloon Altitude

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=D. Muehlner

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Phys. Rev. Lett.

|volume=30

|pages=757

|year=1973

|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.30.757

|bibcode=1973PhRvL..30..757M

|issue=16}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Measurements of the Phase Fluctuations on a He-Ne Zeeman Laser

|author1=R. Weiss |author2=D.K. Owens

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Rev. Sci. Instrum.

|volume=45

|pages=1060

|year=1974

|doi=10.1063/1.1686809

|issue=9|bibcode=1974RScI...45.1060O}}

• {{cite journal

| title=A Large Beam Sky Survey at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths Made from Balloon Altitudes

|author1=R. Weiss, D.K. Owens |author2=D. Muehlner

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Astrophysical Journal

|volume=231

|pages=702

|year=1979

|doi=10.1086/157235

|bibcode=1979ApJ...231..702O|doi-access=free

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Monolithic Silicon Bolometers

|first1=R. |last1=Weiss|first2=P.M. |last2=Downey|first3=F.J. |last3=Bachner|first4=J.P. |last4=Donnelly|first5=W.T. |last5=Lindley|first6=R.W. |last6=Mountain|first7=D.J. |last7=Silversmith

|journal=Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves

|volume=1

|year=1980|issue= 6

|pages= 910

|doi= 10.1364/ao.23.000910

|pmid= 18204660

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Measurements of the Cosmic Background Radiation

|journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics

|volume=18

|pages=489–535

|author=R. Weiss

|year=1980

|doi=10.1146/annurev.aa.18.090180.002421

|bibcode=1980ARA&A..18..489W|doi-access=free

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=The COBE Project

|author=R. Weiss

|journal=Physica Scripta

|volume=21

|pages=670

|year=1980

|doi=10.1088/0031-8949/21/5/016

|issue=5

|bibcode = 1980PhyS...21..670W |s2cid=250836076

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=A Search for the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect at Millimeter Wavelengths

|author1=R. Weiss, S.S. Meyer |author2=A.D. Jeffries

|name-list-style=amp |journal=Astrophys. J. Lett.

|volume=271

|pages=L1

|year=1983

|doi=10.1086/184080

|bibcode=1983ApJ...271L...1M|doi-access=free

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Measurements of the Anisotropy of the Cosmic Background Radiation and Diffuse Galactic Emission at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths

|first1=R. |last1=Weiss|first2=M. |last2=Halpern|first3=R. |last3=Benford|first4=S. |last4=Meyer|first5=D. |last5=Muehlner

|journal=Astrophys. J.

|volume=332

|pages=596

|year=1988

|doi=10.1086/166679

|bibcode=1988ApJ...332..596H|doi-access=free}}

• {{cite journal

|title=A Preliminary Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite

|author= R. Weiss, J.C. Mather, E.S. Cheng, R.E. Eplee Jr., R.B. Isaacman, S.S. Meyer, R.A. Shafer, E.L. Wright, C.L. Bennett, N.W. Boggess, E. Dwek, S. Gulkis, M.G. Hauser, M. Janssen, T. Kelsall, P.M. Lubin, S.H. Moseley Jr., T.L. Murdock, R.F. Silverberg, G.F. Smoot and D.T. Wilkinson

|journal=Astrophys. J.

|volume=354

|pages=L37

|year=1990

|doi=10.1086/185717

|bibcode=1990ApJ...354L..37M|doi-access=free

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=COBE Differential Microwave Radiometers: Instrument Design and Implementation

|author=R. Weiss, G. Smoot, C. Bennett, R. Weber, J. Maruschak, R. Ratliff, M. Janssen, J. Chitwood, L. Hilliard, M. Lecha, R. Mills, R. Patschke, C. Richards, C. Backus, J. Mather, M. Hauser, D. Wilkenson, S. Gulkis, N. Boggess, E. Cheng, T. Kelsall, P. Lubin, S. Meyer, H. Moseley, T. Murdock, R. Shafer, R. Silverberg and E. Wright

|journal=Astrophys. J.

|volume=360

|pages=685

|year=1990

|doi=10.1086/169154

|bibcode=1990ApJ...360..685S|doi-access=free

}}

• {{cite book

| author=R. Weiss

|chapter=Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors

|title=Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation

| url=https://archive.org/details/generalrelativit00ashb

| url-access=limited

|editor1=N. Ashby |editor2=D. Bartlett |editor3=W. Wyss |publisher=Cambridge University Press

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/generalrelativit00ashb/page/n349 331]

|year=1990|isbn=9780521384285

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Prototype Michelson Interferometer with Fabry-Perot Cavities

|author= R. Weiss, D. Shoemaker, P. Fritschel, J. Glaime and N. Christensen

|journal=Applied Optics

|volume=30

|issue=22

|pages=3133–8

|year=1991

|pmid=20706365

|doi=10.1364/AO.30.003133

|bibcode = 1991ApOpt..30.3133S }}

{{refend}}

{{notelist}}

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal|title=The storyteller|last=Cho|first=A.|journal=Science|volume=353|issue=6299|pages=532–537|date=August 5, 2016|doi=10.1126/science.353.6299.532|pmid=27493164}}
• {{cite book|last1=Mather|first1=J.|last2=Boslough|first2=J.|title=The very first light: The true inside story of the scientific journey back to the dawn of the universe|publisher=Basic Books|year=2008|isbn=978-0-465-01576-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/veryfirstlight00john}}
• {{cite book|last=Bartusiak|first=M.|title=Einstein's unfinished symphony: Listening to the sounds of space-time|url=https://archive.org/details/einsteinsunfinis00bart_0|url-access=registration|publisher=Joseph Henry Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-425-18620-6}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/weiss_rainer.html Rainer Weiss's website at MIT]
• [http://space.mit.edu/LIGO LIGO Group at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research]
• {{MathGenealogy|id=100525}}
• [https://news.mit.edu/2016/rainer-weiss-ligo-origins-0211 Q&A: Rainer Weiss on LIGO's origins] at news.mit.edu
• Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/qTqTx1gX1wY Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200125203656/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTqTx1gX1wY Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=UW Frontiers of Physics Lecture: Dr. Rainer Weiss, Fall 2016, recorded October 25, U. Washington College of Arts & Sciences|website=YouTube|date=November 10, 2016|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTqTx1gX1wY}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2017 LIGO and Gravitational Waves I

{{relativity}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physics}}

{{2017 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Breakthrough Prize laureates}}

{{Kavli Prize laureates}}

{{Shaw Prize laureates}}

{{Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Ranier}}

Category:1932 births

Category:Living people

Category:Nobel laureates in Physics

Category:American Nobel laureates

Category:American people of German-Jewish descent

Category:21st-century American physicists

Category:Jewish American physicists

Category:Jewish German physicists

Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany

Category:German emigrants to Czechoslovakia

Category:Immigrants to the United States

Category:Gravitational-wave astronomy

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Category:Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni

Category:Kavli Prize laureates in Astrophysics

Category:Fellows of the American Astronomical Society

Category:Experimental physicists

Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society