Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, October 7, 2017

Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 7, 2017 11THE WORLD AROUND US 
CALTECH SCIENTISTS AWARDED 2017 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 
FOR GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTION 
Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 7, 2017 11THE WORLD AROUND US 
CALTECH SCIENTISTS AWARDED 2017 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 
FOR GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTION 
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awardedto three key players in the development and ultimatesuccess of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-
wave Observatory (LIGO). One half of the prizewas awarded jointly to Caltech’s Barry C. Barish,
the Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Physics,
Emeritus and Kip S. Thorne (BS ‘62), the Richard

P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics,
Emeritus; and the other half was awarded to MIT’s 
Rainer Weiss, Professor of Physics, Emeritus.
On September 14, 2015, the National ScienceFoundation (NSF)-funded LIGO made the first-
ever direct observation of gravitational waves—
ripples in the fabric of space and time predictedby Albert Einstein 100 years earlier. The publicannouncement took place on February 11, 2016,
in Washington, D.C. Each of the twin LIGOobservatories—one in Hanford, Washington, andthe other in Livingston, Louisiana—picked up thefeeble signal of gravitational waves generated 1.3billion years ago when two black holes spiraledtogether and collided. Two additional detections ofgravitational waves, once again from merging black-
hole pairs, were made on December 26, 2015, andJanuary 4, 2017; and on August 14, 2017, a fourthevent was detected by LIGO and the EuropeanVirgo gravitational-wave detector.

The detections ushered in a new era of 
gravitational-wave astronomy. LIGO and Virgoprovided astronomers with an entirely new set oftools with which to probe the cosmos. Previously,
all astronomy observations have relied on light—
which includes X-rays, radio waves, and othertypes of electromagnetic radiation emanating fromobjects in space—or on very-high-energy particlescalled neutrinos and cosmic rays. Now, astronomerscan learn about cosmic objects through the quiversin space and time caused by changes in gravitation.

The Nobel Prize recognizes Weiss, Barish, andThorne for their “decisive contributions to the 
LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational 
waves.” 

“I am delighted and honored to congratulate Kipand Barry, as well as Rai Weiss of MIT, on the awardthis morning of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics,” 
says Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 
A BEAR IN THE YARD 



[Nyerges is the author of 9books, including “Enter theForest,” “How to Survive 
Anywhere,” “Self-sufficientHome,” and other books. 
He leads regular naturalistwalks, and can be heard 

weekly on Preparedness Radio Network. He can 
be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, orwww.ChristopherNyerges.com]

I’ve always liked the wildlife where I live buttingright up against the Angeles National Forest, thoughit does mean that I have given up the idea of a food 

Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair andprofessor of physics. “The first direct observationof gravitational waves by LIGO is an extraordinarydemonstration of scientific vision and persistence.
Through four decades of development of exquisitelysensitive instrumentation—pushing the capacityof our imaginations—we are now able to glimpsecosmic processes that were previously undetectable.
It is truly the start of a new era in astrophysics.” 

“The prize rightfully belongs to the hundredsof LIGO scientists and engineers who builtand perfected our complex gravitational-waveinterferometers, and the hundreds of LIGO and 

compost bin – about 10 feet from my door -- to getto whatever yummy rotten food was inside, and he 
left some prints on my sidewalk. Once I went outsidewhen a black bear was checking out the neighbor’strash, and the bear ran off so quickly that I couldhardly believe my eyes.

This morning I photographed these tracks downon the dirt road west of my home that leads up intoa local canyon. I put my reading glasses next to thetrack so you can see how big it is. I always figuredthat this was the path that the bear takes into hiscanyon hideout, but I never saw good track til today.

By the way, I naturally assume that each of you 


garden (except wild foods). Between the gophers,
squirrels, and deer, nothing lasts long enough for meto harvest. And the bird scene is incredible, with all 
the usuals, such as hawks, owls, jays, crows, ravens,
woodpeckers, hummingbirds, the feral parrots,
wrens, and many others.

I haven’t seen a bear in the yard for a few years.
The first encounter was when one broke apart my 

has a copy of my book “Enter the Forest” on yourbedstand right next to your Bible. I have a chapterall about bears in that book, and you’ll find thatinteresting reading. If by some strange quirk youhave misplaced your copy of “Enter the Forest,” youcan get a copy at Amazon, at my website which iswww.ChristopherNyerges.com, or wherever qualitybooks are sold. 

Virgo scientists who found the gravitational-wavesignals in LIGO’s noisy data and extracted thewaves’ information,” Thorne says. “It is unfortunatethat, due to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, 
the prize has to go to no more than three people,
when our marvelous discovery is the work of morethan a thousand.” 

“I am humbled and honored to receive this 
award,” says Barish. “The detection of gravitational 
waves is truly a triumph of modern large-scaleexperimental physics. Over several decades, ourteams at Caltech and MIT developed LIGO intothe incredibly sensitive device that made the 

discovery. When the signal reached LIGO from acollision of two stellar black holes that occurred 1.3 
billion years ago, the 1,000-scientist-strong LIGOScientific Collaboration was able to both identifythe candidate event within minutes and perform thedetailed analysis that convincingly demonstratedthat gravitational waves exist.” 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@ 
MtnViewsNews.com. 

OUT TO PASTOR 


A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

ONE GOOD DEED DESERVES A KICK IN 



THE PANTS 


Have you ever had the feeling that any gooddeed you try is counteracted by a good swift kickin the pants?

I recently grabbed a quick lunch at a localrestaurant. I don’t like eating at fast foodrestaurants, but, occasionally, I don’t have muchchoice. Then, once in the restaurant the menu 
doesn’t give me much choice, either.

I ordered my lunch and settled at a cornertable. About halfway through my lunch an oldercouple took the table next to me. Being a “peoplewatcher,” which is a fancy way of saying, “I’mnosy,” I watched this couple out of the corner of 
my eye.

I noticed right away the woman got her thingssituated immediately. Not so with the man.

He struggled to unwrap the plastic fork. Hefumbled trying to break the plastic wrapping andfree his fork so he could begin eating. Nothinghe did seemed to advance his cause. 

Without missing a beat, his wife reachedover, took the wrapped fork from her husband,
popped it open in one easy motion and handedit back to him. Without saying a word, he took itand began eating.

This incident reminded me of something thathappened the week before.

A friend phoned, asking me if I could helpa friend of his who was moving from Floridato Virginia and had nobody to help him.
Immediately I agreed to help all I could. Afterhanging up my phone, I wondered what I hadgotten myself into.

I told him to have this person call me. I 
figured if he doesn’t call, I wouldn’t have to help.
No sooner had this thought rambled through thelittle gray cells, then the telephone rang. It wasthis person requesting my assistance.

I invited him to church on Sunday and wewould see how we could help him. I hoped the“we” did not mean “me.” After hanging up thetelephone, I told my wife the incident and shereassuringly said, “He may not even come tochurch.” I took comfort in her suggestion.

On Sunday morning, an hour before services,
this person showed up at church. He introducedhimself and we got acquainted.

“All I have,” he assured me, “are 25 boxes of 
books that I need to take to the post office so Ican mail them to where I am going.” 

Well, I mused, this may not be as bad as Ithought.

On awakening Monday morning, secondthoughts about the whole project bombardedmy empty head. I was trying to think of someway to graciously bow out of the whole mess.
I have a problem pronouncing the word “no.”
You have no idea the trouble this has broughtme. I’m thinking of consulting a speech therapistto help me.

My watch told me I was running a little late. 


I wish my watch would tell me how to get outof such predicaments. But when I inquired,
it didn’t give a tick. Then an idea burst in mynoggin. If he said anything about me being late Iwill get mad, turn around and go home. Or, if hewasn’t ready to move the boxes when I got there,
I would, in a huff, turn around and stomp off andgo home.

It’s been such a long time since I got mad orangry that I wasn’t confident of my plan. But, Ireasoned to myself, it’s worth a try.

I found myself running about 45 minutes late.
I was grinning to myself, thinking this would beenough to make him say something about mytardiness. 

When I arrived, he was waiting for me witheverything in readiness. He greeted me in a verycheery voice and made no mention whatsoeverabout my lateness.

This distressed me. 

Surveying the work before us, I figured itwould only a few hours to load the truck, driveto the post office, which was only a couple blocks 
away.

I had the auspicious job of lifting every boxfrom the truck up on to the dolly on the dock,
several feet over my head. Complicating thingseven more, the post office personnel supervisingthe unloading of these boxes was a woman. Thismeant I could not groan nor complain about thestrain of lifting boxes several feet over my head. 

I guess it must be a man-thing.

I was wondering while working, just why heasked for help. Really, this was not a two-manjob. He could have done this quite nicely all byhimself. 

Then the real reason slipped out from under anearby rock where it had been hiding.

“The school where I will be teaching,” hebegan, “will reimburse me for all my expensesin moving. But ...” I was now ready for the restof the story. “But, I am a little short on cash andwas wondering if you could help me? I’ll be gladto send the money back to you.” 

Then I got mad.

I thought he wanted a hand up when in realityhe wanted a hand out. 

Driving home I was reminded of what theBible said, “And let us not be weary in welldoing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faintnot. As we have therefore opportunity, let us dogood unto all men, especially unto them who areof the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:9-10).
I remembered what someone told me once. 
Nobody can take advantage of a Good Samaritan.
Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family ofGod Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 
34472. He lives with his wife in Silver SpringsShores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail 
jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is 
www.whatafellowship.com. 

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