European Gravitational Observatory

EGO the European Gravitational Observatory - is located in the countryside near Pisa in the Commune of Cascina. In order to ensure the long term scientific exploitation of the VIRGO interferometric antenna for gravitational waves detection as well as to foster European collaboration in this upcoming field, the VIRGO funding institututions (CNRS for France and INFN for Italy) have created a consortium called EGO (European Gravitational Observatory). VIRGO is a 3-km long interferometer built in the framework of a French-Italian collaboration. Today, this collaboration involves 19 laboratories with more than 250 scientists in France, Italy and also in the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary as well.