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. 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. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017, announced October 3, 2017. Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, and Kip S. Thorne, “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. Rainer Weiss: born 1932, Berlin, Germany. Barry C. Barish: born 1936, Omaha, NE, USA. Kip S. Thorne: born 1940, Logan, UT, USA. Wiki link Wiki link Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).