WASHINGTON — Scientists say they have finally detected gravitational waves — the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago.
The announcement has electrified the world of physics and astronomy. Scientists say the finding opens a new way of observing the cosmos.
For many years, scientists have had indirect evidence of the existence of gravitational waves rippling across the universe.
But now, an all-star international team of astrophysicists using an excruciatingly sensitive, $1.1 billion instrument has actually detected one of these waves from the distant crash of two black holes.
One theorist says the feat ranks along Galileo taking up a telescope and looking at the planets.
University of Chicago Physics Professor Daniel Holz was one of four from the university collaborating with about 1000 other academics internationally on this project.
Last year, on September 15, the sound a billion light years away was detected.
It was a collision with a power 50 times greater than that of all the stars in the universe put together.
Also, an astronomer from Chicago's Adler Planetarium was involved in this discovery: