Washington: In a landmark discovery in the field of physics and astronomy, international scientists claim they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted a century ago.
These researchers have picked up and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light years away. This sound travelled through space and arrived at Earth on September 14, 2015.
This simple cosmic chirp seems destined to take its place among the great sound bites of science, ranking with Alexander Graham Bell’s ‘Mr Watson come here’ and Sputnik’s first beeps from orbit, commented the New York Times.
“Like Galileo first pointing his telescope upward, this new view of the sky will deepen our understanding of the cosmos, and lead to unexpected discoveries,” said France Cordova, director of the US National Science Foundation, which funded the work.
The phenomenon was observed by two US-based underground detectors, designed to spot tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves, a project known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO. Gravitational waves are a measure of strain in space, an effect of the motion of large masses that stretches the fabric of space-time — a way of viewing space and time as a single interweaved continuum. They travel at the speed of light and cannot be stopped or blocked by anything.
Einstein said space-time could be compared to a net, bowing under the weight of an object. Gravitational waves would be like ripples that emanate from a pebble thrown in a pond.
While scientists have previously been able to calculate gravitational waves, they had never before seen one directly.
Indirect proof of gravitational waves was found in 1974 through the study of a pulsar and a neutron star. Scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor won the Nobel Prize for physics for that work in 1993.
IN THEORY, UNTIL NOW: Gravitational waves were first predicted in 1916 by Einstein. However, despite decades of searching, gravitational waves remained theoretical as they were too elusive for the most sensitive instruments — until now.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? The discovery will give scientists an opportunity to observe the “dark” side of the cosmos, almost back to the beginning of time itself.
EXACTLY AFTER 100 YEARS: This is the definitive proof that the scientist had long been waiting for — they have directly witnessed gravitational waves for the first time, and precisely 100 years after Einstein’s general theory had predicted them.
BIGGERS THAH HIGGS: This is the biggest scientific discovery so far this century — even bigger than the Higgs.
