Jo van den Brand elected as spokesperson Virgo
On 19 April professor Jo van den Brand was elected as the new spokesperson for Virgo. Van den Brand is programme leader Gravitational Waves at Nikhef and professor at VU University Amsterdam. Over the past few years he has led the gravitational waves group with considerable success and the biggest highlight so far was the announcement on 11 February 2016 that gravitational waves had been detected for the first time. Van den Brand is the driving force behind the possibility of realising the future generation of gravitational wave detectors, the so-called Einstein Telescope, in the Netherlands.
The members of the international Virgo collaboration, whose representatives include the Netherlands, France and Italy, elected Van De Brand as their new spokesperson on 19 April 2017 with a vast majority of votes.
Van den Brand is very motivated to start in his new position on 1 May: "I look forward to ensuring that Advanced Virgo becomes operational as soon as possible so that we can participate in the Science Runs with the LIGO interferometer in the United States. We still have a huge amount to discover such as a collision of neutron stars, which releases not just gravitational waves but also electromagnetic waves that astronomers can measure at the same time. I also see my appointment as a recognition of our fantastic institute Nikhef and the measure of trust that people have in us." The Virgo detector in Pisa has recently received a major upgrade and will soon be able to measure gravitational waves as well.
More information
For more information please see the website of Nikhef. Jo van den Brand won the FOM Valorisation Prize 2015.