Recently there has been buzz of rumours about the detection of gravitational waves, and when researchers involved at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) scheduled a major announcement, it had all but confirmed the rumours to be true.
Researchers at LIGO have officially revealed that for the first time in history, they have observed the warping of space-time generated by the collision of 2 black holes which are over 1 billion light years from Earth.
The theory of gravitational waves was first proposed by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his General Relativity theory way back in 1916. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time that carry energy across our universe.
“We have detected gravitational waves,” said LIGO executive director David Reitze. “It’s the first time the Universe has spoken to us through gravitational waves. Up until now, we’ve been deaf.”
“It is the first ever direct detection of gravitational waves; it’s the first ever direct detection of black holes and it is a confirmation of General Relativity because the property of these black holes agrees exactly with what Einstein predicted almost exactly 100 years ago,” said Prof Karsten Danzmann. “There is a Nobel Prize in it – there is no doubt.”
Check out the announcement below:
