IN THE PRESS


The Relativity and Gravitation Group will get more human resources

26 February, 2016

The vice president and "conseller" of Innovation, Research and Tourism of the Balearic Government, Biel Barceló, together with the general director of Innovation and research, Pep Lluis Pons, have announced that they will assign more human resources to the LIGO section of the Relativity and Gravitation Group of the UIB that participated in the discovery of gravitational waves. This happened on friday, february 26th, after receiving in an audience Dr. Alicia Sintes, who was accompanied by the whole group, whom he congratulated on their work.

The Relativity and Gravitation Group of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) has been the only spanish research group that has participated in the first time detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Said detection has confirmed an important prediction of the General Relativity theory that Albert Einstein formulated in 1915 and has opened an unprecedented new window to the cosmos.

Biel Barceló has presented a beautiful art print as thanks and in recognition of the work realised by the LIGO section of the UIB, as well as made public that the "Dirección general de Innovación e Investigación" is working on the drafting of an agreement with the aim of consolidating this line of research. The agreement in question is for hiring a post-doctoral fellow as well as a pre-doctoral fellow for a duration of three years. This additional personnel will help alleviate the needs in human resources that the research group will have due to the large amount of work they will be subjected to in order to produce scientific papers.

Barceló has emphasised that his council is commited to the support of innovation and research in the Islands: “We know that the increase by 11 percent of the budget that we have effected this year for this area is not sufficient, and that we must further increase the investment,” said the vice president, remembering that in 2015, the Balearic Islands appointed only 0.3 percent of the gross domestic product to innovation, so the Balearic community was at the tail of Spain and Europe.

Thank you, vice president!

News from the "Govern de les Illes Balears"

Ultima Hora link

Vicepresidència tweet