OzGrav: A new wave of discovery

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) presents its inaugural short documentary ‘OzGrav: A new wave of discovery’. Building on one of Albert Einstein’s greatest intellectual achievements in physics-the theory of general relativity-OzGrav brings together Australian astrophysics and gravitational-wave communities into a unified national science program.
Gravitational waves (GWs) are ripples in space-time generated by accelerating masses, such as two immensely dense black holes that collide into each other. These waves stretch and squeeze space-time as they radiate outwards at the speed of light. These distortions felt on Earth are so tiny, they require the most sensitive instrumentation ever built to detect them: it’s like trying to measure the distance between the Sun and its nearest star, Proxima Centauri (4.243 light years away), to an accuracy of the width of a hair. Unbelievably, after recent advances in detector sensitivity, GWs were detected for the first time in September 2015-a landmark achievement in scientific discovery that heralded the birth of gravitational-wave astronomy.
In 2016, the ARC funded OzGrav, supporting some of the world’s leading scientists and engineers to work on gravitational-wave research as part of the international LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. Since then, OzGrav has made exceptional scientific contributions to gravitational-wave research including the detection of more GWs and planning future GW detectors. OzGrav’s innovative research and technological advancements are also benefitting a range of industries worldwide, including aviation, mining, defence, and self-driving cars. OzGrav continues to fulfil its mission: to inspire and lead the next generation of Australian scientists and engineers through this new window of the Universe.
We acknowledge and thank the tremendous work by Carl Knox who produced and directed this documentary, as well as everyone in OzGrav who contributed, both in front and behind the scenes.