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It’s official: Einstein was right about gravitational waves

Albert EinsteinGetty Images

Albert Einstein would have said it’s about time – and space.

A century ago, the genius behind the general theory of relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves, the so-called ripples in the fabric of space-time.

On Thursday, scientists sent tides of euphoria in the world of physics and astronomy when they announced that they have finally detected the waves– which are expected to open a new window into our understanding of the cosmos.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it!” declared David Reitze, head of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, at the National Press Club, the Washington Post reported.

LIGO, described as “the most precise measuring device ever built,” is actually two facilities in Livingston, La., and Hanford, Wash. The National Science Foundation has poured $1.1 billion on LIGO over several decades.

Led by scientists from the Caltech and MIT, the observatory began operating in 2002 but detected nothing until a major upgrade increased its sensitivity.

The “a-ha!” moment came on Sept. 14, 2015, when waves emitted by a collision of two black holes about 1.3 billion years ago was detected — as a mere “chirp.”

That half-second sound – which captured the coalescing of the two black holes 30 times as massive as the sun — was hailed as a giant step in the field of astrophysics.

“This was truly a scientific moonshot,” Reitze said. “I really believe that. And we did it. We landed on the moon.”

The giddy scientists analyzed reams of data about the tiny wave vibrations that they then submitted to thorough peer review before making their momentous announcement Thursday.

“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 National Science Foundation.

Two black holes holes collide, detected for the first time ever by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in this still image from a computer simulation released in Washington.
Two black holes holes collide in this still image from a computer simulation.Reuters

The discovery of the gravitational waves means that astronomy will no longer be confined to the visual realm, in which scientists have relied on light to peer into the universe.

Scientists believe the waves will prove very useful for studying black holes and other dark objects that don’t emit any light.

The waves, which slice through matter at the speed of light without interacting with it, would arrive to Earth carrying vital undistorted information about their origins.

Some physicists said the discovery is as big as the 2012 discovery of the subatomic Higgs boson, the so-called “God particle.” Some said it’s even bigger.

“It’s really comparable only to Galileo taking up the telescope and looking at the planets,” said Penn State physics theorist Abhay Ashtekar, who wasn’t part of the discovery team. “Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically.”

Scientists found indirect proof of gravitational waves in the 1970s — computations that showed they micro-changed the orbits of two colliding stars — and the work was honored as part of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics.

But Thursday’s announcement was a direct detection of a gravitational wave.

“It’s one thing to know sound waves exist, but it’s another to actually hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony,” said Marc Kamionkowsi, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who wasn’t part of the discovery team. “In this case we’re actually getting to hear black holes merging.”

With Post Wires