Rainer Weiss

American physicist (1932-2025) · United States · On the map · Scientists · Died at 92

Rainer Weiss was a German-American physicist, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. He was a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University.

Rainer Weiss is read about 90 times a day, in 64 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2025Died25 August 20252018Honorary Doctor of the Eötvös Loránd UniversityAwardHonorary Doctorate of the University of AlmeriaAward2017Cocconi PrizeAwardNobel Prize in PhysicsAward2016Clarivate Citation LaureatesAwardGruber Prize in CosmologyAwardHarvey PrizeAwardKavli Prize in AstrophysicsAwardThe Shaw Prize in AstronomyAward2007Einstein PrizeAward1932Born29 September 1932

People around Rainer

Close ties

Robert H. Dicke Influenced Rainer

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Media & music

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Awards

Honorary Doctor of the Eötvös Loránd University2018

Honorary Doctorate of the University of Almeria2018

Nobel Prize in Physics2017

Cocconi Prize2017

Gruber Prize in Cosmology2016

Harvey Prize2016

Kavli Prize in Astrophysics2016

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy2016

Clarivate Citation Laureates2016

Einstein Prize2007

Guggenheim Fellowship

Princess of Asturias Awards

Shaw Prize

Fellow of the American Physical Society

Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation

About this person

He is best known for inventing the laser interferometric technique which is the basic operation of LIGO. He was Chair of the COBE Science Working Group.

Country

United States