Explore 11 February

An aerial view of the LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington State; each of its two arms is 4 kilometres long.

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LIGO Laboratory · Public domainResized and cropped for display.

Scientists announce they have detected gravitational waves

In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted that violent events in space, such as colliding black holes, should send ripples through space-time itself. The ripples were thought to be far too faint ever to measure directly.

On 11 February 2016, at a press conference in Washington, scientists of the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced that both LIGO detectors, in Washington State and Louisiana, had recorded such waves on 14 September 2015. The signal came from two black holes that merged about 1.3 billion years ago. The discovery opened a new way of observing the universe and won three of the project’s leaders the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.

A grand piano and other pianos in Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios, London, where the album was recorded, photographed in 2008.

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Tomswain Tom Swain www.tomswain.co.uk · CC BY-SA 3.0Resized and cropped for display.

The Beatles record an album in a single day

In early 1963 the Beatles’ single Please Please Me was climbing the British charts, and their producer, George Martin, wanted an album out quickly. The band had little studio time and a heavy touring schedule.

On 11 February 1963, in Studio Two at EMI’s studios on Abbey Road in London, they recorded ten songs in one long day, largely the songs they played on stage, ending with a raw version of Twist and Shout. With four tracks from their first two singles, the album Please Please Me was released in March and spent thirty weeks at the top of the British album chart.

The great torii gate at Kashihara Shrine in Nara prefecture, dedicated to Emperor Jinmu, in December 2025.

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663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized and cropped for display.

National Foundation Day (Japan)

Japan’s National Foundation Day marks the enthronement of Jinmu, the legendary first emperor, which the eighth-century chronicle Nihon shoki places in 660 BC. First kept as Kigensetsu from 1873, it was abolished during the post-war occupation and restored as a public holiday in 1966. An imperial envoy brings offerings to Kashihara Shrine, dedicated to Jinmu.

The physicist Lise Meitner, who with Otto Frisch first explained nuclear fission.

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Harris & Ewing · Public domainResized and cropped for display.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, the day celebrates women’s contributions to science and campaigns for equal access to scientific education and careers. It is led by UNESCO and UN Women.