Ronald Drever

Ronald William Prest Drever (26 October 1931 – 7

March 2017) was a Scottish experimental physicist. He Ron Drever
was a professor emeritus at the California Institute of
Technology, co-founded the LIGO project, and was a
co-inventor of the Pound–Drever–Hall technique for
laser stabilisation, as well as the Hughes–Drever
experiment. This work was instrumental in the first
detection of gravitational waves in September
2015.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Drever died on 7 March 2017, aged 85,[8] seven Drever in Glasgow 2007
months before his colleagues Rainer Weiss, Kip
Born Ronald William Prest Drever
Thorne, and Barry Barish won the Nobel Prize in
26 October 1931[1]
Physics for their work on the observation of
Bishopton, Renfrewshire,
gravitational waves.[9] The trio of Drever, Thorne and
Scotland, UK
Weiss shared several major physics prizes in 2016, so
Died 7 March 2017 (aged 85)[1]
it is widely believed that Drever would have won the
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Nobel Prize in the place of Barry Barish had he not
died before the Nobel Committee made their Alma mater University of Glasgow (PhD)
decision.[10][11] Known for Laser stabilizing technique
Pioneering laser interferometric
gravitational wave observation.
Education Awards Einstein Prize (2007)
Special Breakthrough Prize in
Drever was educated at Glasgow Academy followed
Fundamental Physics (2016)
by University of Glasgow where he was awarded a
bachelor's degree in 1953[12] followed by a PhD in Gruber Prize in Cosmology
1959 for research on orbital electron capture using (2016)
proportional counters.[13] Shaw Prize (2016)
Kavli Prize (2016)
Smithsonian, American Ingenuity
Career and research Award (http://www.smithsonianm
ag.com/innovation/2016-smithso
After receiving his PhD from the University of nian-american-ingenuity-awards-
Glasgow in 1959, Drever initiated the Glasgow project 180961117/) (2016)
to detect gravitational waves in the sixties,[14] after
Harvey Prize (2016)
which he established the University’s first dedicated
gravitational wave research group in 1970.[15] The Scientific career
same year Drever was recruited to form a gravitational Fields Physics, Laser physics,
wave program at Caltech.[16] In 1984 Drever left Experimental Gravitation
Glasgow to work full-time at Caltech.[17]
Drever's contributions to the design and Institutions California Institute of Technology,
implementation of the LIGO interferometers were University of Glasgow
critically important to their ability to function in the Thesis Studies of orbital electron
extreme sensitivity realm required for detection of capture using proportional
gravitational waves (10−23 strain). counters (http://www.worldcat.or
g/oclc/298416389) (1959)
Drever's final work involved the development of
magnetically levitated optical tables for seismic Doctoral James Hough
students
isolation of experimental apparatus.[18]
Website www.pma.caltech.edu/content
/ronald-w-drever (https://www.pm
Honors and awards a.caltech.edu/content/ronald-w-d
Drever was recognized by numerous awards including: rever)

Fellowship of the American Physical Society (1998)[19]

Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences [20] (2002)
Shared the Einstein Prize (2007) with Rainer Weiss
The Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
(2016)
The Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016)
The Shaw Prize (2016) (together with Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever outside his first
Rainer Weiss).[21] laboratory at Caltech. Photo taken in
1993
The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics (2016).[22]
Smithsonian, American Ingenuity Award (http://www.smit
hsonianmag.com/innovation/2016-smithsonian-american
-ingenuity-awards-180961117/) (2016)
The Harvey Prize (2016)
Fellowship of the Norwegian Academy of Science and
Letters[23]

Artistic inspiration
Robert Crawford wrote a meditation on the life of Ronald
Drever.[24]

Further reading
Marcia Bartusiak, Einstein's Unfinished Symphony
(Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C., 2000) -
Contains coverage of his work with gravity wave Ronald Drever deciding where to
detectors, including LIGO build the LIGO Hanford site 1993

References
1. "Caltech Mourns the Passing of LIGO Co-founder Ronald W. P. Drever" (http://www.caltech.
 edu/news/caltech-mourns-passing-ligo-co-founder-ronal
d-w-drever-54336). Whitney Clavin. Caltech. 8 March
2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
2. Knapton, Sarah (12 February 2016). "British scientist
who played key role in gravitational waves research is
suffering from dementia" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne
ws/science/12153127/British-scientist-who-played-key-ro
le-in-gravitational-waves-research-is-suffering-from-dem
entia.html). The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group
Limited. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
3. Twilley, Nicola. "Gravitational Waves Exist: The Inside
Story of How Scientists Finally Found Them" (http://ww
w.newyorker.com/tech/elements/gravitational-waves-exis Ronald Drever, with the
t-heres-how-scientists-finally-found-them). The New Breakthrough Prize 2017
Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X (https://search.worldcat.org/iss
n/0028-792X). Retrieved 2016-02-11.
4. Abbott, B.P.; et al. (2016). "Observation of Gravitational
Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger". Phys. Rev.
Lett. 116 (6): 061102. arXiv:1602.03837 (https://arxiv.or
g/abs/1602.03837). Bibcode:2016PhRvL.116f1102A (htt
ps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016PhRvL.116f1102A).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102 (https://doi.org/10.
1103%2FPhysRevLett.116.061102). PMID 26918975 (ht
tps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26918975).
S2CID 124959784 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Corp
usID:124959784).
5. Naeye, Robert (11 February 2016). "Gravitational Wave
Detection Heralds New Era of Science" (http://www.skya
ndtelescope.com/astronomy-news/gravitational-wave-de
tection-heralds-new-era-of-science-0211201644/). Sky
and Telescope. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
6. Castelvecchi, Davide; Witze, Alexandra (11 February
2016). "Einstein's gravitational waves found at last" (htt
p://www.nature.com/news/einstein-s-gravitational-waves-
found-at-last-1.19361). Nature News.
doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19361 (https://doi.org/10.103
8%2Fnature.2016.19361). S2CID 182916902 (https://ap
i.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:182916902). Retrieved
11 February 2016.
7. Cho, Adrian (2016). "Will Nobel Prize overlook master
builder of gravitational wave detectors?". Science.
doi:10.1126/science.aah7350 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2
Fscience.aah7350). ISSN 0036-8075 (https://search.worl
dcat.org/issn/0036-8075).
8. "Gravitational waves pioneer Ronald Drever dies" (http
s://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39212305).
Jonathan Amos. BBC. 8 March 2017. Retrieved
10 March 2017.
9. "Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 press release" (https://ww
w.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2017/pr
ess.html). nobelprize.org.
10. "Ronald Drever". Physics Today (10). 2018-10-26. doi:10.1063/PT.6.6.20181026a (https://do
i.org/10.1063%2FPT.6.6.20181026a). S2CID 239972691 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Co
rpusID:239972691).
11. "Scottish scientist was tipped to join Nobel prize winners" (https://www.scotsman.com/future-
scotland/tech/scottish-scientist-was-tipped-to-join-nobel-prize-winners-1-4577167).
www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
12. Anon (2016). "The University of Glasgow Story: Ronald Drever" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20161205233911/http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH26945&type=P).
universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Archived from the original (http://
www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH26945&type=P) on 2016-12-05.
13. Drever, Ronald William Prest (1959). Studies of orbital electron capture using proportional
counters (http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8484/) (PhD thesis). University of Glasgow.
OCLC 298416389 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/298416389).
14. Prof R G Moorhouse (23 August 2002). "Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming
Einstein's Theory" (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11953833.Sir_John_Gunn_Univers
ity_professor_who_specialised_in_science_research/?_r=0). The Herald Scotland. The
Herald Scotland. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
15. "£500K BEQUEST MAKES SPLASH WITH GLASGOW GRAVITATIONAL WAVE
SCIENTISTS" (https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_566307_en.html?_r=0). gla.ac.uk.
University of Glasgow. 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
16. OVERBYE, DENNIS, CORUM, JONATHAN and DRAKEFORD, JASON (11 February
2016). "Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein's Theory" (https://www.nytimes.c
om/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html?_r=0). New York
Times. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
17. Prof R G Moorhouse (28 December 2017). "£500K BEQUEST MAKES SPLASH WITH
GLASGOW GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SCIENTISTS" (https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_5
66307_en.html?_r=0). gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
18. S. J. Augst & R. W. P. Drever (2000). "Measurements of Mechanical Q in Levitated
Paramagnetic Crystals" (http://authors.library.caltech.edu/2076/1/AUGaipcp00.pdf) (PDF).
Amaldi Conference 2000. Caltech.
19. "APS fellow archive" (https://aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=D&
year=&unit_id=&institution=). American Physical Society.
20. Five Caltech Faculty Members Elected to Membership in the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences (http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/12285) Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20100601181737/http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/12285) 2010-06-01 at the
Wayback Machine
21. "Shaw Prize 2016" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180303094456/http://www.shawprize.org/
en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=254&fourid=476). Archived from the original (htt
p://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=254&fourid=476) on 2018-
03-03. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
22. "2016 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics | www.kavliprize.org" (http://www.kavliprize.org/prizes-and-
laureates/prizes/2016-kavli-prize-astrophysics). www.kavliprize.org. 2 June 2016. Retrieved
2016-06-02.
23. "Group 2: Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics" (https://web.archive.org/web/201712221626
31/http://english.dnva.no/c40134/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40149). Norwegian Academy of
Science and Letters. Archived from the original (http://english.dnva.no/c40134/artikkel/vis.ht
ml?tid=40149) on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
24. "Drever, Ligo" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r38xx). BBC. Retrieved 22 October
2018.

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