Gravity's Ghost and Big Dog brings to life science's efforts to detect cosmic gravitational waves. These ripples in space-time are predicted by general relativity, and their discovery will not only demonstrate the truth of Einstein's theories but also transform astronomy. Although no gravitational wave has ever been directly detected, the previous five years have been an especially exciting period in the field. Here sociologist Harry Collins offers readers an unprecedented view of gravitational wave research and explains what it means for an analyst to do work of this kind. Collins was embedded with the gravitational wave physicists as they confronted two possible discoveries - 'Big Dog,' fully analyzed in this volume for the first time, and the 'Equinox Event,' which was first chronicled by Collins in Gravity's Ghost. He records the agonizing arguments that arose as the scientists worked out what they had seen and how to present it to the world, along the way demonstrating how even