25 Jan 2021 — On February 3, 2021, the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) will host an online event to bestow their Milestone awards to the LIGO and Virgo observatories. These awards recognize “technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents,” according to the IEEE website. More than 160 IEEE Milestones have been awarded to a range of projects, including historical breakthroughs such as Benjamin Franklin’s work on electricity and the electrical telegraph.
LIGO and Virgo are being honored for their gravitational-wave antennas and the first detections of gravitational waves. The online event will include the dedication of bronze IEEE Milestone plaques at each observatory, as well discussions with Kip Thorne, Barry Barish, and Rainer Weiss (winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics). Representatives from Virgo and Kagra will also be speaking, and the governor of Washington and director of the National Science Foundation are expected to attend. See a longer news items at the LIGO Laboratory for more details.