Alberta scientists involved in discovery of gravitational waves

“We will deepen technical cooperation and professional resources exchange with prominent research institutes such as MIT, in addition to attracting foreign specialists”, Sun Yat-sen University Astronomy and Space Science Institute Dean Li Miao told The Global Times publication. For the first time, scientists were able to see and hear black holes in action in scientific history.

Even as the world, particularly the scientific community, is abuzz with the news of gravitational waves discovery, there’s one scientist who is not so astonished with the finding.

It took 900 scientists, 10 years, and two observatories, but gravitational waves have been detected for the first time-the most important breakthrough in modern science, many say.

“It should develop a whole new slew of discoveries we haven’t understood before”, he added.

Physicist Kip Thorne said: “With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe-objects and phenomena that are made from warped space-time”.

Gravitational waves detected at last! That is where the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) comes in.

Einstein in 1916 proposed the existence of gravitational waves as an outgrowth of his ground-breaking general theory of relativity, which depicted gravity as a distortion of space and time triggered by the presence of matter. The collision that produced the detected waves occurred 1.3 billion years ago.

A study that has really made waves. In fact, this caused so much doubt to Einstein regarding the prospect of gravitational waves being ever detected that he twice declared them “non-existent” before reverting to his original position.

Indeed, black holes are a holy grail of the gravitational wave concept.

The Theory of General Relativity states that giant objects such as black holes, stars and planets could distort the space-time, just like how gravity works when a ball rolls down towards a person standing on a trampoline. The LIGO detectors in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington utilize laser light as a very precise stopwatch to measure this effect.