Rainer Weiss

Rainer "Rai" Weiss (/waɪs/; German: [vaɪs]; September 29, 1932 – August 25, 2025) was a German-born American physicist of partly Jewish descent (his father was Jewish).^[1] He was known for his works in gravitational physics and astrophysics.

Rainer Weiss
Weiss in December 2006
Born	(1932-09-29)September 29, 1932 Berlin, Germany
Died	August 25, 2025(2025-08-25) (aged 92) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS, PhD)
Known for	Pioneering laser interferometric gravitational wave observation
Awards	Einstein Prize (2007) Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2016) Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016) Shaw Prize (2016) Kavli Prize (2016) Harvey Prize (2016) Princess of Asturias Award (2017) Nobel Prize in Physics (2017)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics Laser physics Experimental gravitation Cosmic background measurements
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis	Stark Effect and Hyperfine Structure of Hydrogen Fluoride (1962)
Doctoral advisor	Jerrold R. Zacharias
Doctoral students	Dirk Muehlner, David Owens, Patricia Downey , Daniel Dewey, Jeffrey Livas, Nelson Christensen, Peter Fritschel, Michelle Stephens, Joseph Kovalik, Joseph Giaime, Partha Saha, Nergis Mavalvala, Brett Bochner, Brian Lantz, Julien Sylvestre, Ryan Lawrence, Rana Adhikari
Other notable students	Bruce Allen

Works

He was a professor of physics emeritus at MIT. He was best known for inventing the laser interferometric technique, which is the basic operation of LIGO.^[2]

Weiss was Chair of the COBE Science Working Group.^[3][4][5]

In 2017, Weiss was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves".^[6][7][8][9]

Death

Weiss died at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 25, 2025, at the age of 92.^[2]