India, US sign agreement to set up LIGO project

Washington, March 31: India and the US signed an agreement on Thursday for a new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project in India during the course of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here.

The agreement was signed between India's department of atomic energy and US' National Science Foundation.

LIGO shot to fame recently after its scientists proved the gravitational waves theory.

"Beyond ordinary breakthroughs. PM @narendramodi greets scientists from LIGO, who proved gravitational waves theory," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The prime minister also met Indian student scientists associated with the LIGO project, Swarup said.

Modi is here to attend the fourth and final edition of the biennial Nuclear Security Summit being held on Thursday and Friday.

He arrived here on the second leg of his three-nation tour on Wednesday night from Brussels where he attended the 13th India-European Union (EU) Summit and held a bilateral meeting with his Belgian counterparty Charles Michel.

IANS