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Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss, influential physicist who forged new paths to understanding the universe, dies at 92

The longtime MIT professor shared a Nobel Prize for his role in developing the LIGO observatory and detecting gravitational waves.

MIT Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss ’55, PhD ’62, photographed in 2016
MIT Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss ’55, PhD ’62, photographed in 2016
Image: Bryce Vickmark
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
By Kathy Wren | MIT News