Prof. Sanjeev Dhurandhar
IUCAA, Pune

An enigmatic prediction of Einstein's theories of relativity is gravitational waves. A change in the gravitational field propagates at a finite speed, although extremely large compared to speeds we encounter in normal everyday life. These are gravitational waves. They travel at the universal speed ~ 300,000 km/sec which is also the speed of light. The talk will first describe the physics of GW, their detection and generation. Then the detectors being constructed around the world will be described, namely, the laser interferometric detectors, their current status and future plans. Then the GW sources will be discussed and what astrophysical information we can glean from them about the universe.

 The observation of GW will be the beginning of a new astronomy - gravitational wave astronomy - the astronomy of the 21st century.

India is poised to be an important participant in this worldwide effort.