Scientists make historical discovery, confirm Einstein’s theory

Gravitational waves have been a theoretical prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity for the past 100 years. 37 Indians were part of the global effort of almost 1,000 experts.

“Before we started detecting gravitational waves, looking out at the universe was like watching an orchestra without any sound”.

Now, with the advent of gravitational wave astronomy, otherwise invisible phenomena, such as the black hole system captured by LIGO, will be accessible. The black holes were 29 and 36 times larger than the mass of the sum and they gave off gravitational waves as they spiraled into one another.

37 other scientists from top research centres and labs in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru provided crucial research for the worldwide experiment.

Amanpreet Soin, another research scholar at the university, said, “The detection of the gravitational waves now leaves us with a lot more questions”.

The discovery was made by twin detectors in America, which are run by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO).

“This is transformational. We have observed the universe through light so far”.

The sound of two black holes colliding ends with a middle C note, according to physicists.

Their existence was predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity a century ago, but until now, no instruments were sensitive enough to detect them. “The scientific community will now work towards strengthening the instrumentation to make it capable of detecting gravitational waves produced by all accelerating masses”. “We may even see relics of the very early universe during the Big Bang at the most extreme energies possible”, Hawking added.

Eminent astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar described the event as “a remarkable discovery saying this is the time to recall the contribution of the pioneers”, who started the quest for discovering gravitational waves.

Literally, gravitational waves are ripples in space-time’s curvature that are caused by collisions of massive and compact cosmic objects like black holes and neutron stars. To this end, Hughes has modeled the “sounds” of a host of astrophysical events, including colliding black holes.