The first Southern Hemisphere Gravitational Wave Detector
The search for gravitational waves began in the 1990s and this detector, Niobe, was one of 5 set up around the world as part of that search. It came into operation in 1993 after 16 years, 12 PhD projects and several million dollars to build. This worldwide experiment set limits to the strength of gravitational waves and paved the way for the next generation of detectors.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of spacetime that mark the beginning of time in the Big Bang and the end of time at the birth of black holes.
