Gravitational wave detectors on the earth

Since the pioneering work of Joseph Weber, the quest for the detection of gravitational waves has progressed at higher and higher levels of ingenuity and effort. Here we briefly outline the historical path followed during the development of the detectors on ground, which have brought us from the resonant bars to the large interferometric antennas of today, and give some perspective on the exciting time that is probably to come, when the large interferometric detectors will have completed their upgrade to the advanced stage, with a sensitivity ten times better than the present one. At that time, about 2015, several events per year should be detected. On the long-term scale, more sensitive gravitational detectors, currently in the conceptual design phase, will start a systematic gravitational wave astronomy.