2015-2016 | Page 40

EINSTEIN WAS RIGHT ALL THIS TIME A hundred years ago Einstein has predicted that the gravitational force is in the form of waves in his general theory of relativity and scientists have confronted and confirmed these ripples ultimately. An article from Nature “Einstein’s gravitational waves found at last” states that the physicists with the help of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) have revealed the awaited confirmation on February 11 indicating that their twin detectors have caught the ‘gravitational ringing’ caused by a collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth. This oscillation showed up at a frequency of 35 Hz and sped up to 250 Hz before disappearing after 0.25 seconds according to the LIGO’s automatic systems. Einstein may have predicted the gravitational waves but proving it was not easy. It took 8 decades to create the technology that can spot the waves at ridiculous distances and took 2 decades to spot the collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion years away from us. This makes the confirmation unbelievably valuable. The science world has gone crazy since this discovery. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves.” Said David Reitze, the executive director of LIGO at a Washington DC press conference. 40 THE CLAPPER 2015 - 2016 “It is by far the most powerful explosion humans have ever detected except for the big bang.” Says Kip Thorne, a gravitational theorist at Caltech. Undoubtedly this discovery of gravitational waves has created a sensation but the questions await; “How is it discovered?” and “What will be the outcome?”