David Howard Reitze (born 6 January 1961) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
laser physicist who is Professor of
Physics at the
University of Florida and served as the scientific spokesman of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (
LIGO) experiment in 2007-2011. In August 2011, he took a leave of absence from the
University of Florida to be the Executive Director of
LIGO, stationed at the
California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena,
California. He obtained his BA in 1983 from
Northwestern University, his PhD in Physics from the
University of Texas at Austin in 1990, and had positions at
Bell Communications Research and
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
, before taking his faculty position at the
University of Florida. He is a Fellow of the
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
, the
Optical Society, and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
.
An expert in ultrafast optics and laser
spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...
, he now specialises in laser-based interferometric
gravitational wave
Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity generated by the accelerated masses of an orbital binary system that propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1 ...
detection. This includes the development of new interferometer topologies for next generation gravitational wave detectors, investigations of thermal loading in passive and active optical elements, development of high power optical components, and the design, construction and operation of the LIGO interferometers.
As Director of the LIGO Laboratory, one of his main efforts has been planning the proposed extension of the LIGO network of detectors to include one in
India.
In February 2016, he, as executive director of LIGO, announced that the
first direct gravitational wave observation had occurred on 14 September 2015 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration using the LIGO detectors in Hanford, WA and Livingston, LA.
Reitze, along with other former and present spokespersons of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, was awarded the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery in 2017.
In 2019, Reitze co-edited a book with
Peter Saulson
Peter Reed Saulson (born October 30, 1954) is an American physicist and professor at Syracuse University. He is best known as a former spokesperson for the LIGO collaboration serving from 2003 to 2007 and research on gravitational wave detectors. ...
and Hartmut Grote on the current state of gravitational-wave detectors and future upgrades.
The book discusses about both
LIGO and
Virgo interferometers.
Notes
References
External links
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Living people
21st-century American physicists
Gravitational-wave astronomy
1961 births
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