Endless Facts, One Snippet at a Time
Gravitational Waves: Einstein’s Prediction Confirmed
- Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves in 1916 as part of General Relativity.
- They are ripples in spacetime caused by massive cosmic events.
- Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light across the universe.
- The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) first detected them in 2015.
- The signal came from two black holes merging 1.3 billion light-years away.
- This was the first direct evidence confirming Einstein’s century-old prediction.
- The discovery earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Gravitational wave astronomy opens a new way to observe the cosmos.
- Future detectors like LISA will track waves in space with even more precision.
- These ripples let scientists “hear” the universe for the very first time.