Albert Einstein is right once again. His century-old prediction about tiny ripples in space-time called “gravitational waves” has been detected and capped a 40-year quest to spot the infinitesimal ripples.

But instead of seeing the end of the story, scientists see the discovery as the birth of a new field – the gravitational wave astronomy. It can be recalled that Albert Einstein has predicted the existence of gravitational waves as part of the Theory of General Relativity.

To better explain the theory, here is the exact words of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Obsevatory (LIGO). “In Einstein's theory, space and time are aspects of a single measurable reality called space-time.”

Matter and energy as being two expressions of a single material, Einstein theorized of space-time as a fabric. The presence of large amounts of mass or energy, however, distorts space-time and this war page can be observed as gravity.

Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves spent a century being a theory because the gravitational waves are hard to detect. However, last February, LIGO which consists of 1,000 students and faculty of Louisiana State University discovered a burst of waves created 1.3 billion light years away. These waves are found near two massive black holes that spiraled into each other.

“When the reporters and editors gathered to discuss big news in science, we didn’t take long to pick a Breakthrough of the Year,” started Science News Editor Tim Appenzeller in a prepared statement, as per Business Report. “2016 saw lots of fantastic achievements. But the discovery of gravitational waves towered over everything else.”

In addition to the Breakthrough of the Year award, Gabriela Gonzales, the spokesperson for the LIGO, has been named one of the top 10 scientists in the world by the scientific journal Nature. It has been a really great year for the LIGO and the Louisiana State University.

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