Where's science, there's also a Linux OS

May 12, 2015 08:59 GMT  ·  By

Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) may not get the same kind of attention in the media as other physics experiments, but it should. It's designed to detect gravitational waves, and it looks like the scientists are also using Linux (Ubuntu) to do that.

Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein back in 1916, and they should exist. This is what Einstein's theory of general relativity tells us. The problem is that, even if the theory of general relativity has been proven, the gravity waves have yet to be discovered, although the scientists are confident that it's going to happen soon enough.

It's not really surprising that Linux is being used in the LIGO experiment, but that doesn't make it any less cool. Just a couple of weeks ago we saw that Ubuntu was being used to interpret the data from the Hubble Space Telescope. And, just before that, Ubuntu and KDE were also observed at the restart of the Large Hadron Collider in CERN. It's safe to say that if real science is being done, odds are that Linux systems are being used.

Linux equals reliability

The fact that scientists choose Linux systems for their work has to do with the fact that it's a stable, secure, and reliable operating system, no matter the distro. Scientists usually choose what to use for themselves. Oftentimes people use Debian, CentOS, Red Hat, and Scientific Linux. It's even difficult to find what you want between so many choices.

As for the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) experiment, the video below shows that Ubuntu is used, along with some Mac OS systems, and perhaps some KDE in the background, although that's not entirely certain. In any case, if any science is being done in a lab somewhere, it would be a safe bet that a Linux system is being used.

The entire LIGO Generations – The Film is quite interesting, if you want to know more about gravitational waves, or you can jump straight to 9.05 minutes, Also, many thanks to Reddit user GeorgeChalkitis for providing the links. Enjoy!