First direct detection of gravitational waves

Date

14 September 2015 (announced 11 February 2016)

Category

Science, technology & invention

Region

Global

Era

Contemporary

Significance

On 14 September 2015 the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, recorded the first direct detection of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime produced by the merger of two black holes about 1.3 billion light-years away.

The signal, designated GW150914, was announced to the world by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on 11 February 2016. The detection confirmed a central prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity, made a century earlier, and provided the first direct evidence that binary black holes exist and merge. It opened the entirely new field of gravitational-wave astronomy, giving scientists a way to observe cosmic events invisible to traditional telescopes. The discovery earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne. Subsequent detections, including a 2017 neutron-star merger observed simultaneously in gravitational waves and light, inaugurated 'multi-messenger' astronomy and deepened understanding of how heavy elements form in the universe.

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Also relevant

• AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol, a milestone of the deep-learning revolution
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Further reading

A Little History of Science

The wider story

A Little History of Science

William Bynum

Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.

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