Rainer Weiss
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2008-07-06T16:40:20Z
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'''Rainer (Rai) Weiss''' is professor of physics emeritus at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]].
== Early life and education ==
Weiss was born in Berlin, Germany. His family moved to U.S. in the late 1930s; his youth was spent in New York City. He studied at MIT, receiving his B.S. in 1955 and Ph.D. in 1962 from [[Jerrold Zacharias]]. He taught at [[Tufts University]] in 1960–62, was a postdoctoral scholar at [[Princeton University]] from 1962–64, and then joined the faculty at MIT in 1964.
== Achievements ==
He has brought two fields of fundamental physics research from birth to maturity: characterization of the cosmic background radiation, and interferometric gravitational wave observation.
Weiss made pioneering measurements of the spectrum of the [[cosmic microwave background]] radiation, and then was co-founder and an intellectual leader of the [[NASA]] [[COBE]] (microwave background) statellite. Weiss also invented the interferometric [[gravitational wave]] detector, and co-founded the [[National Science Foundation|NSF]] [[LIGO]] (gravitational-wave detection) Project. Both of these efforts couple remarkable challenges in instrument science with physics of the deepest importance for our understanding of the Universe.
Weiss contributed to LIGO through:<br>
* his inception of the measurement technique
* recognition and delineation of the experimental challenges
* building of early prototype instruments
* leadership of the effort to propose full-scale observatories
* engineering of the world's largest ultra-high vacuum system to house the instruments
* commissioning of the initial detectors
* forming and first leadership of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration
* .....and mentorship of many of the physicists leading the field.
== Selected publications ==
* {{cite journal
|title=Magnetic Moments and Hyperfine Structure Anomalies of Cs<sub>133</sub>, Cs<sub>135</sub> and Cs<sub>137</sub>
|author=R. Weiss, H.H. Stroke, V. Jaccarino and D.S. Edmonds
|journal=Phys. Rev.
|volume=105
|pages=590
|year=1957
|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.105.590}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Molecular Beam Electron Bombardment Detector
|author=R. Weiss
|journal=Rev. Sci. Instr.
|volume=32
|pages=397
|year=1961
|doi=10.1063/1.1717386}}
* {{cite journal
|title=A Search for a Frequency Shift of 14.4 keV Photons on Traversing Radiation Fields
|author=R. Weiss and L. Grodzins
|journal=Physics Letters
|volume=1
|pages=342
|year=1962
|doi=10.1016/0031-9163(62)90420-1}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Weiss
|first=Rainer
|title=Stark Effect and Hyperfine Structure of Hydrogen Fluoride
|journal=Phys. Rev.
|volume=131
|pages=659
|year=1963
|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.131.659}}
* {{cite journal
|title=A Gravimeter to Monitor the <sub>O</sub>S<sub>O</sub> Dilational Model of the Earth
|author=R. Weiss and B. Block
|journal=J. Geophy. Res.
|volume=70
|pages=5615
|yar=1966
|doi=10.1029/JZ070i022p05615
|year=1965}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Experimental Test of the Freundlich Red-Shift Hypothesis
|author=R. Weiss and G. Blum
|journal=Phys. Rev.
|volume=155
|pages=1412
|year=1967
|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.155.1412}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Electric and Magnetic Field Probes
|author=R. Weiss
|journal=Amer. J. Phys.
|volume=35
|pages=1047
|year=1967
|doi=10.1119/1.1973723}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Laser-Induced Fluorescence in a Molecular Beam of Iodine
|author= R.Weiss and S. Ezekiel
|journal=Phys. Rev. Let.
|volume=20
|pages=91
|year=1968
|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.20.91}}
* {{cite journal
|title=A Measurement of the Isotropic Background Radiation in the Far Infrared
|journal=Phys. Rev. Let.
|volume=24
|pages=742
|year=1970
|author=R. Weiss and D. Muehlner
|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.24.742}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Electromagetically Coupled Broadband Gravitational Antenna
|journal=Quarterly Progress Report, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT
|volume=105
|pages=54
|year=1972
|author=R. Weiss}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Balloon Measurements of the Far Infrared Background Radiation
|author= R. Weiss and D. Muehlner
|journal=Phys. Rev. D
|volume=7
|pages=326
|year=1973
|doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.7.326}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Further Measurements of the Submillimeter Background at Balloon Altitude
|author= R. Weiss and D. Muehlner
|journal=Phys. Rev. Let.
|volume=30
|pages=757
|year=1973
|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.30.757}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Measurements of the Phase Fluctuations on a He-Ne Zeeman Laser
| author=R. Weiss and D.K. Owens
|journal=Rev. Sci. Inst.
|volume=45
|pages=1060
|year=1974
|doi=10.1063/1.1686809}}
* {{cite journal
| title=A Large Beam Sky Survey at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths Made from Balloon Altitudes
|author= R. Weiss, D.K. Owens and D. Muehlner
|journal=Astrophysical Journal
|volume=231
|pages=702
|year=1979
| doi=10.1086/157235}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Monolithic Silicon Bolometers
|author= R. Weiss, P.M. Downey, F.J. Bachner, J.P. Donnelly, W.T. Lindley, R.W. Mountain and D.J. Silversmith
|journal=Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves
|volume=1
|year=1980}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Measurements of the Cosmic Background Radiation
|journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
|volume=18
|pages=489
|author=R. Weiss
|year=1980
|doi=10.1146/annurev.aa.18.090180.002421}}
* {{cite journal
|title=The COBE Project
|author=R. Weiss
|journal=Physica Scripta
|volume=21
|pages=670
|year=1980
|doi=10.1088/0031-8949/21/5/016}}
* {{cite journal
|title=A Search for the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect at Millimeter Wavelengths
|author=R. Weiss, S.S. Meyer and A.D. Jeffries
|journal=Ap. J. Let.
|volume=271
|pages=L1
|year=1983
|doi=10.1086/184080}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Measurements of the Anistropy of the Cosmic Background Radiation and Diffuse Galactic Emission at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths
|author= R. Weiss, M. Halpern, R. Benford, S. Meyer and D. Muehlner
|journal=Ap. J.
|volume=332
|pages=596
|year=1988
|doi=10.1086/166679}}
* {{cite journal
|title=A Preliminary Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite
|author= R. Weiss, J.C. Mather, E.S. Cheng, R.E. Eplee Jr., R.B. Isaacman, S.S. Meyer, R.A. Shafer, E.L. Wright, C.L. Bennett, N.W. Boggess, E. Dwek, S. Gulkis, M.G. Hauser, M. Janssen, T. Kelsall, P.M. Lubin, S.H. Moseley Jr., T.L. Murdock, R.F. Silverberg, G.F. Smoot and D.T. Wilkinson
|journal=Ap. J.
|volume=354
|pages=L37
|year=1990
|doi=10.1086/185717}}
* {{cite journal
|title=COBE Differential Microwave Radiometers: Instrument Design and Implementation
|author=R. Weiss, G. Smoot, C. Bennett, R. Weber, J. Maruschak, R. Ratliff, M. Janssen, J. Chitwood, L. Hilliard, M. Lecha, R. Mills, R. Patschke, C. Richards, C. Backus, J. Mather, M. Hauser, D. Wilkenson, S. Gulkis, N. Boggess, E. Cheng, T. Kelsall, P. Lubin, S. Meyer, H. Moseley, T. Murdock, R. Shafer, R. Silverberg and E. Wright
|journal=Ap. J.
|volume=360
|pages=685
|year=1990
|doi=10.1086/169154}}
* {{cite book
| author=R. Weiss
|chapter=Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors
|title=Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation
|editor=ed. N. Ashby, D. Bartlett and W. Wyss
|publisher=Cambidge University Press
|pages=331
|year=1990}}
* {{cite journal
|title=Prototype Michelson Interferometer with Fabry-Perot Cavities
|author= R. Weiss, D. Shoemaker, P. Fritschel, J. Glaime and N. Christensen
|journal=Applied Optics
|volume=30
|pages=3133
|year=1991}}
==References==
<references/>
*Mather, John and John Boslough, The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe, ISBN 978-0465015764
*Bartusiak, M., Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time, ISBN 978-0425186206
== External links ==
* [http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/rainer_weiss.html Rainer Weiss' website at MIT]
* [http://space.mit.edu/LIGO LIGO Group at the MIT Kalvi Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Ranier}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty]]