Education outreach
The Gravity Discovery Centre in Gingin is our public outreach facility playing a crucial role in the understanding of gravitational waves for all.
The UWA node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav-UWA) played a significant role in the momentous discovery of the first gravitational wave events in 2015. We are members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration led by MIT and Caltech and involving many other institutes across the world.
The OzGrav-UWA centre is based in the School of Physics of The University of Western Australia (UWA) and is part of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA). Through strong national and international participation, we work on:
- technology for gravitational wave detection
- gravitational wave data analysis
- multi-messenger astronomy and astrophysics
- spin-off technologies and
- teaching and learning of Einsteinian Physics
One of our research facilities at its remote, low-noise Gingin site combines multiple sensitive research projects with a public education facility designed to encourage young people to take up science and engineering careers. More than 20,000 people per year visit the Gravity Discovery Centre and the Gingin Observatory, the largest public astronomy centre in the southern hemisphere.