The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a scientific collaboration of international physics institutes and research groups dedicated to the search for gravitational waves. It complements the LIGO Laboratory, an organization based at the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology which constructed and now operates the LIGO observatories. The LSC contributes to developing detector technologies, assists with collecting and validating data from the LIGO and GEO600 detectors, and is responsible for analyzing the data and publishing scientific results. The LSC is led by a Spokesperson, which is Stephen Fairhurst of Cardiff University.

History The LSC was established in 1997 as part of a reorganization of the LIGO Project under the leadership of Barry Barish. Its mission is to ensure equal scientific opportunity for individual participants and institutions by organizing research, publications, and all other scientific activities, and it includes scientists from both LIGO Laboratory and collaborating institutions. Barish appointed Rainer Weiss as the first spokesperson. Subsequent spokespersons have been elected by members of the LSC.

LSC members have access to the US-based Advanced LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and in Livingston, Louisiana, as well as the GEO600 detector in Sarstedt, Germany. Under an agreement with the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), LSC members also have access to data from the Virgo detector in Pisa, Italy. While the LSC and the Virgo Collaboration are separate organizations, they cooperate closely and are referred to collectively as "LVC". In 2019, the Japanese KAGRA collaboration signed an agreement to collaborate with the LSC and Virgo and the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collective is called "LVK".

On 11 February 2016, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced that they succeeded in making the first direct gravitational wave observation on 14 September 2015.

Collaboration leaders

+ Spokespersons of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, with Assistant or Deputy Spokespersons (when one was appointed) Spokesperson Name Term of office Deputy or Assistant Notes Rainer Weiss 1997-2003 none Peter Saulson 2003-2007 none David Reitze 2007-2011 none Gabriela González 2011-2017 Marco Cavaglià, Assistant (2013-2017) David Shoemaker 2017-2019 Laura Cadonati, Deputy (2017-2019) Patrick Brady 2019-2025 Jess McIver, Deputy (2023-2025) Stephen Fairhurst 2025-2027 Peter Shawhan, Deputy (2025-2027)

Collaboration member groups

Institutional members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration as of July 2025, from public summary of the LSC roster https://my.ligo.org/census.php

InstitutionCountryWebsite featuring LIGO researchAlbert-Einstein-Institut, Hannover Binary Merger Observations and Numerical Relativity, Laser Interferometry and Gravitational Wave AstronomyAlbert-Einstein-Institut, Potsdam-Golm Astrophysical and Cosmological RelativityAmerican University Australian National University Centre for Gravitational AstrophysicsBard College Bar-Ilan University Barry University California Institute of Technology LIGO Lab, Caltech LIGO AstrophysicsCalifornia State University, Fullerton Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy CenterCalifornia State University, Los Angeles Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics Cardiff University Gravity Exploration InstituteCarleton College Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute Charles Sturt University Chennai Mathematical Institute Chinese University of Hong Kong Christopher Newport University Chung-Ang University Colorado State University Concordia University Wisconsin Cornell University Directorate of Construction Services and Estate Management, Department of Atomic Energy Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Gravity Research GroupEwha Womans University Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Relativistic AstrophysicsGoddard Space Flight Center Government Victoria College, Palakkad Haverford College Helmut Schmidt University Hobart and William Smith Colleges International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT), São Paulo State University Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Inje University Institut de Física d'Altes Energies Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Johns Hopkins University Kennesaw State University Kenyon College King's College London, University of London Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information Leibniz University Hannover LIGO Hanford Observatory LIGO Hanford Observatory websiteLIGO Livingston Observatory LIGO Livingston Observatory websiteLouisiana State University Experimental & Theoretical General RelativityMaastricht University Marquette University Marshall Space Flight Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT LIGOMissouri University of Science and Technology Monash University Montana State University Gravitational Physics at MSUMontclair State University Moscow State University Nagoya University National Central University National Institute for Mathematical Sciences National Institute of Technology Calicut National Tsing Hua University Niels Bohr Institute Northeastern University Northwestern University Gravitational Waves & Multi-Messenger AstronomyPennsylvania State University Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos members in LIGOPerimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Queen Mary University of London Rochester Institute of Technology Center for Computational Relativity and GravitationRoyal Holloway, University of London Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Seoul National University Sonoma State University Stanford University Stanford LIGO GroupStony Brook University, Center for Computational Astrophysics St. Thomas University (Florida) Sungkyunkwan University Swinburne University ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave DiscoverySyracuse University Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and AstrophysicsTata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai Technical University of Braunschweig Trinity College (Connecticut) Tsinghua University University College London University of Adelaide University of Antioquia University of Arizona University of Arkansas University of Birmingham Institute for Gravitational Wave AstronomyUniversity of British Columbia University of Brussels Precision Mechatronics LaboratoryUniversity of California, Berkeley University of California, Davis University of California, Riverside University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy - Cosmology and Fundamental PhysicsUniversity of Chicago University of Florida University of Florida AstrophysicsUniversity of Glasgow Institute for Gravitational ResearchUniversity of Guadalajara University of Hamburg University of Manitoba University of Maryland, Baltimore County University of Maryland, College Park Gravitation Experiment GroupUniversity of Massachusetts Dartmouth University of Melbourne University of Michigan Michigan Gravitational Wave GroupUniversity of Minnesota LIGO@UMNUniversity of Mississippi University of Montréal / Polytechnique University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of Nottingham University of Oregon University of Portsmouth University of Rhode Island University of Sannio University of Santiago de Compostela University of Sheffield University of Southampton University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute University of Stavanger University of Strathclyde University of Szeged University of Texas at Austin University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Center for Gravitational Wave AstronomyUniversity of the Balearic Islands Relativity and Gravitation GroupUniversity of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific University of the West of Scotland University of Tokyo Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, Gravitational Wave GroupUniversity of Utah University of Warwick University of Washington University of Washington Bothell University of Western Australia University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Center for Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsUniversity of Zurich Vanderbilt University Villanova University Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Washington State University Western Washington University

Notes

References

External links

LIGO Magazine