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Celebrated physicist visits old Glasgow school nearly 40 years later
Dr Calum Torrie, associate director and chief engineer at the USA-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), visited Cardonald Primary School on Tuesday, June 17, to present a special piece of science-themed artwork and talk about his career.
Dr Torrie, who now lives in Pasadena, California, said: "I was proud to come back to Cardonald Primary nearly 40 years after I left to meet pupils and present them with their fantastic artwork representing the first detection of gravitational waves.
"Having the opportunity to meet young people and get them engaged with science is always welcome, but being able to meet pupils who are growing up where I did was particularly special."
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(Image: Supplied)
(Image: Supplied) He spoke to pupils about his time at the school in the 1980s, his studies in physics and astronomy at the University of Glasgow, and his current work at LIGO.
Martin Coogan, headteacher at Cardonald Primary School, said: "We were delighted to welcome Dr Torrie back to the school to meet pupils, discuss his career, and present us with the artwork.
"The children thoroughly enjoyed Dr Torrie's presentation, which focused on gravitational wave astronomy and how the remarkable sensitivity of the LIGO detectors was enabled by research at a local university.
"It's fantastic to think that an internationally recognised scientist attended our school and studied at the University of Glasgow.
"I am sure Dr Torrie's visit to our school will inspire some of our pupils to start thinking about science as a possible future career path."
During the visit, Dr Torrie showcased a framed mosaic created by pupils in 2023 as part of a University of Glasgow project.
Gravitational waves, first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, were detected for the first time in 2015 by LIGO.
This discovery opened a new frontier in astronomy and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.
The mosaic visualises one of the signals detected by LIGO and is composed of 1,156 individual drawings contributed by pupils and staff.
Dr Torrie also presented the pupils with a framed A3 poster, celebrating their work.
Dr Andrew Spencer, University of Glasgow researcher who helped lead the development of the mosaics, said: "The Cardonald mosaic celebrates how this ground-breaking discovery was the work of many people.
"The individual squares are recycled from the work of many University of Glasgow researchers, past and present, and each one was decorated by students and staff at Cardonald Primary.
"Working with the School to produce the mosaic was a brilliant experience, and it was great to return with Dr Torrie and the final artwork.
"We hope that future generations of Glasgow children will grow up to continue the tradition of scientific innovation."
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(Image: Supplied) (Image: Supplied) University of Glasgow scientists played a key role in the development of LIGO, particularly in the design of its mirror suspensions and data analysis.
Dr Torrie's visit to Cardonald Primary School comes as the global gravitational wave research community prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the first detection.
Glasgow will host the International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation and the Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves from July 14 to 18.
This conference, organised by the Institute of Physics and supported by the University of Glasgow, will see gravitational wave and relativity researchers from across the globe come together to talk about their research.
