Una prospettiva storica sulla terza generazione di rivelatori di onde gravitazionali. I primi tentativi per una collaborazione Europea (1986-1989)

The advent of long-base-line interferometric detectors projected the field of GW research in the cosmos of Big Science, a gradual transformation taking place at the turn of the ‘80s and 90s. The first two generations of detectors – Joe Weber’s resonant bars and the following cryogenic resonators – were gradually supplanted by the third generation: the interferometric antennas. Particularly engaging is the European context of this transformation. The present talk focuses on the origins of the Virgo endeavor, rooted in the 80s, critically analyzed in the European and international context. The first proposals for large based interferometric detectors were then being discussed and presented in Europe and in USA, strongly bound to the need of creating a coordinated network of antennas, including the optimistic plan of building an array of three interferometers in Europe. A comparable change of scale is needed today, at the dawn of 3G interferometric antennas and an attempt of comparative analysis can be made between the past and the present negotiations for a joint European project.