I was formally introduced to the science of gravitational waves nearly two decades ago. I was on assignment for Science 85, a magazine (now regrettably gone) that thrived on covering the cutting edge of science. Stanford University in California then housed the most advanced instrument yet constructed in the quest to detect gravitational waves—a hulking, supercooled bar of metal that resided in a cavernous room on the campus. This five-ton aluminum bar was the principal subject of my article on the continuing search for the elusive ripples in space-time. The best such a
detector could hope to see, though, was a supernova explosion in our galaxy, which occurs only a couple of times each century.