Chancellor Dalton Explores the Frontiers of Physics at LIGO
June 17, 2026
LSU Chancellor Jim Dalton visited the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in Livingston, where he learned how LSU researchers helped confirm one of the most important scientific theories of the last century.
Guided by LSU Boyd Professor Gabriela González, a leader in the international team that first detected gravitational waves, Dalton toured the facility and explored how LSU continues to advance discoveries that deepen our understanding of the universe.
Video by Grant French
The LIGO Livingston Observatory is one of only a handful of facilities worldwide capable of detecting gravitational waves: tiny ripples in space-time generated by cataclysmic events such as colliding black holes and neutron stars billions of light-years from Earth.
LSU has been a key partner in LIGO since the project's early years. LSU has had a gravitational waves research team since the 70’s and was key to proposing and bringing one of the LIGO detectors to Louisiana, on land owned by LSU. Researchers, faculty, students, and alumni have contributed to the development and operation of the Livingston observatory and to the scientific discoveries that followed. LIGO attracts physics and astronomy graduate and undergraduate students to LSU.
