OLD GUILDFORDIANS
Station, 300km south of Broome in Western
Australia, was believed to be the perfect
place to capture a total eclipse in 1922. It
was on Eighty Mile Beach that more than
30 people gathered from Great Britain, the
United States, Canada, India, New Zealand
and Australia, along with 35 tonnes of
equipment. As the Moon passed in front
of the Sun, astronomers were able to snap
astonishing photographs of light beams
and then measure gravity’s effect on light
from distant stars, all of which supported
Einstein’s theory.
Scientists, such as Professor Blair, believed
that significant cosmic events, such as
massive black holes or neutron stars
accelerating toward each other, would
distort space-time so violently that waves
would emit from the source, like ripples
from a stone thrown into a pond. In an
attempt to detect these waves, in the early
1990s Professor Blair worked with a team
of Australian universities, and both the
State and Federal Government, to construct
a powerful 80m laser interferometer at
what is now the Gravity Discovery Centre
near Gingin. Later, in the US, a team of
researchers were building the powerful
Advanced LIGO detectors, but Professor
Blair’s team realised about a decade
before anyone else that a feedback-type
phenomenon would inhibit the effectiveness
of detecting equipment. When, in 2014, the
expected feedback occurred in the Advanced
LIGO detectors rendering them ineffective,
a University of Western Australia team, led
by Professor Blair, had already pioneered
a thermal tuning technique that corrected
the feedback and doubled the sensitivity of
what was already the most sensitive scientific
instruments in history.
On 14 September 2015, a century after
Einstein formulated the Theory of General
Relativity, Professor Blair says the Advanced
LIGO detectors picked up something
extraordinary, a “whoop…whoop” and
another “whoop”! There was jubilation
amongst the 1000 scientists from across
the globe that were involved in the project,
including Professor Blair and his team. Black
hole collisions generate more energy than
other cosmic events, some 50 times greater
than the combined power of all the stars
in the known universe. What had been
detected was the ripples through space-
time from the collision of two black holes
nearly 1.3 billion light-years away. This was a
monumental discovery.
Following this, on 17 August 2017, a
“whoooooooooop” was detected. The
sound was different and clearly not a black
hole. This was from neutron stars coalescing
and 1.7 seconds later there was a burst of
gamma rays, followed a few hours later
by the detection of a bright new explosion
in a galaxy 130 million light-years from us.
The light also told us something extremely
exciting, a clue to one of humanities great
mysteries…how is gold made? Now we had
an answer as the spectrum of light detected
had the telltale signatures of gold and
platinum. Gold is created by the collision of
neutron stars.
There is no doubt that the detection of
gravitational waves is a massive discovery
for humanity, ushering in a new era
of physics and astronomy, but what of
solving the remaining mysteries of the
universe. Does dark matter exist? Did our
universe begin with the Big Bang. Are we
alone? Speculation continues as to how
monumental this discovery will be in the
context of human scientific history. Being at
the forefront of this detection technology,
Professor David Blair and his team look to the
stars with eager anticipation.
Malaysia Reunion
20 April 2019
Magnificent Malaysia is the location of our next overseas
reunion, with the main Reunion Dinner and Performance
on Saturday, 20 April 2019. To add to the sensational
occasion, students from Guildford Grammar School’s
very talented School of Music and Boodjar Bidi Indigenous
dance troupe will be there to entertain the crowd.
A program of optional activities will also be held in
the days leading up to the dinner.
Expressions of interest
While the program is still being finalised,
expression of interest can be given to
David Williams on [email protected]
or (+61 8) 9377 8522.
Reunions every 10 years – help us organise yours
1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 to celebrate in 2019
The Old Guildfordians Association holds reunions for classes every 10 years. If you are from the class of 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, or
2009, we need your help to make it a celebration worthy of the occasion. If you are not sure what you r class year is, consider what the
calendar year was when your age group graduated in Year 12, even if you left before your final year.
If you would like to assist in organising your reunion, please contact David Williams on [email protected] or (+61 8) 9377 8522.
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