Barry Barish
Barry Clark Barish (born January 27, 1936) is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.
Barry Barish | |
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Barish in 2005 | |
| Born | Barry Clark Barish January 27, 1936 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA, PhD) |
| Spouse | Samoan Barish |
| Children | 2 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of California, Riverside Stony Brook University California Institute of Technology Sapienza University of Rome |
| Thesis | A study of the reaction negative pion plus proton going to negative pion plus neutral pion plus proton at 310 and 377 MEV (1962) |
| Doctoral advisor | A. Carl Helmholz |
| Doctoral students | Kate Scholberg |
In 2017, Barish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves". He said, "I didn't know if I would succeed. I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough."
In 2018, he joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside, becoming the university's second Nobel Prize winner on the faculty.
In the fall of 2023, he joined Stony Brook University as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics.
In 2023, Barish was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Biden in a White House ceremony.