Space & Astronomy

Gravitational wave scientists bag Nobel Prize

By T.K. Randall
October 3, 2017 ·  9 comments

Gravitational waves were first picked up in 2015. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne picked up this year's Nobel prize in physics for their work on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment.

Originally proposed by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his General Theory of Relativity, gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time that carry energy across the universe.

The first time gravitational waves were detected was back in 2015 when LIGO picked up the warping of space-time generated by the collision of two black holes situated over one billion light years away.Since then there have been three more confirmed detections including one in August of this year.

Scientists are now hoping to use gravitational waves to learn more about the Big Bang.

"There are calculations that indicate that the very earliest instants of the universe, right after the universe gets born, there is an enormous amount of background radiation of gravitational waves generated," said Weiss.

"That would be one of the most fascinating things man could [see] because it will tell you very much how the universe starts."

Source: The Guardian | Comments (9)

Tags: Gravitational Waves, Nobel Prize