Early Gravity Wave Detection Experiments :1960-1975

In about 1960, the late Joseph Weber invented a novel and ingenious gravity wave antenna based on a massive harmonic oscillator. In the early 1960’s, he began a search for signals of extraterrestrial origin. In a series of publications covering the period 1966-1973, he reported, with increasing confidence, the detection of such signals, including evidence for their origin in our galactic center. This inspired many others to join the search, which is still being hotly pursued, at much higher sensitivity some 30 years later. However, during the period 1972-75, it became increasingly evident that the reported signals were almost certainly artifacts of the procedures used by Weber to extract signals from the spectrum of antenna noise. I will review the key papers, both Weber’s and others, in an attempt to explain how this came about.