Richard Allen Isaacson (born October 6, 1941) is a retired American physicist who has been cited by 2017 Nobel Laureate

Rainer Weiss Rainer "Rai" Weiss ( , ; born September 29, 1932) is a German-American physicist, known for his contributions in gravitation, gravitational physics and astrophysics. He is a professor of physics emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...

as indispensable to the

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Prior to LIG ...

gravitational wave project. Isaacson's 1967 PhD dissertation established that the theoretical gravitational waves had features similar to other known types of waves. Isaacson went on to champion the LIGO project as the

NSF NSF may stand for: Political organizations *National Socialist Front, a Swedish National Socialist party *NS-Frauenschaft, the women's wing of the former German Nazi party * National Students Federation, a leftist Pakistani students' political g ...

Program Director of Gravitational Physics for decades. Weiss and fellow Laureate

Kip Thorne Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist and writer known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. Along with Rainer Weiss and Barry C. Barish, he was awarded the 2017 Nobel Pri ...

have honored Isaacson by endowing the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

's ''Richard A. Isaacson Award in Gravitational-Wave Science''

References

Living people American physicists 1941 births {{US-physicist-stub