US astrophysicists Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss were awarded the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for the discovery of gravitational waves, offering a sneak peek at the universe’s very beginnings.
Predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago as part of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are “ripples” in space-time — the theoretical fabric of the cosmos.
They are the aftermath of violent galactic events such as colliding black holes or imploding massive stars, and can reveal events that took place billions of years ago.
The first detection of gravitational waves happened in September 2015 at the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), where the three Nobel laureates worked.
Announced in February 2016 to great excitement in the scientific community, the discovery was hailed as the historic culmination of decades of research.
“Their discovery shook the world,” said Goran Hansson, the…