bIGgest discovery of the century

steddyeddy

100 years after Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted gravitational waves scientists at LIGO detected the elusive waves. This is the biggest discovery of the century and another reason why Einstein was great. It's a great time to be a scientist.

Link from the Guardian as the discovery is announced live!

super_furry

Been following it and trying to get my head around the whole concept - it's fascinating even to a layman like me.

Harry Palmr

Yeah but what's in it for me?

I'm watching the BBC news coverage and I have no idea why this is a such big thing. Being able to see the universe in an earlier state is of little interest really.

Harry Palmr

Any chance this breakthrough could end double posting? :mad:

Lights On

Still doesn't trump those Dairy Milk bars with Oreos in them that came out last year!

MonkeyTennis

and they were discovered where?

SEPT 23 1989

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

and they were discovered where?

as always it was in the last place they looked

Doylers

10er says america try to weaponise it

valoren

That the human mind is capable if inferring through mathematics the existence of an aspect of nature is a wonderful thing and should rightly be celebrated.

I can just imagine the headline in the red tops.

"AL WAS RIGHT, BOFFINS CONFIRM"

darkpagandeath

Thought it would take longer, As the thing was stupidly sensitive and false alarmed all the time. Wonder if we will be hearing from the Dark matter/Energy detector anytime soon ?

aziz

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

as always it was in the last place they looked

I told them to try down the back of the sofa first:)

GLaDOS

Genuinely amazing, credit to the work of the team involved.

Polo_Mint

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Yeah but what's in it for me?

I'm watching the BBC news coverage and I have no idea why this is a such big thing. Being able to see the universe in an earlier state is of little interest really.

I thought that's how all Liverpool fans viewed the Universe

Its pretty amazing in fairness

I wonder how fast you could go surfing a gravitational wave?

The_Valeyard

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

as always it was in the last place they looked

depends on what way you view the space time continuum

darkpagandeath

The_Valeyard wrote: »

depends on what way you view the space time continuum

Depends if you are Doctor who or Doc brown. :pac:

Mint Aero

My penis

mad muffin

So are we one step close to the warp drive and first contact with the Vulcans?

The_Valeyard

mad muffin wrote: »

So are we one step close to the warp drive and first contact with the Vulcans?

And a close call with the Borg.

kneemos

Surfs up.

warpdrive

Lights On wrote: »

Still doesn't trump those Dairy Milk bars with Oreos in them that came out last year!

Milka Oreo bars do

darkpagandeath

mad muffin wrote: »

So are we one step close to the warp drive and first contact with the Vulcans?

Well there are theory's. We have actually transported was it an electron through the quantum entanglement principle on a side not.

Liam McPoyle

NEEEEEEERRRRRDDDDDDD!

The_Valeyard

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Depends if you are Doctor who or Doc brown. :pac:

Or Doc Brown is a future Doctor/Valeyard/Master using a fog pocket watch to conceal their true identity and memories.

strelok

The_Valeyard wrote: »

And a close call with the Borg.

sexy deanna troi though

Calibos

As long as this means I'll see hover boards and antigravity cars within my lifetime I'm happy.

KomradeBishop

What's most incredible about this, is that it's a detection of two black holes merging (from ~1.3 billion light years away, a huge distance) - and that they can even tell the original mass of the black holes and everything - and have modelled the merger of black holes so accurately on supercomputers in the past, that they can see the gravitational waves match the expected pattern, of the final/merged black hole settling into its final form - so this is peering into the physics, of merging black holes.

The two black holes were ~36 and ~29 times the mass of the sun, and the energy given off by the gravitational waves was ~3 times the mass of the suns total energy - which is the most energetic thing that has ever been recorded, way bigger than any supernova explosion.

Junkyard Tom

[Pendant]The Century is only 16 years old. You can't be saying it's the greatest discovery until 2100.[/Pedant]

kneemos

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

[Pendant]The Century is only 16 years old. You can't be saying it's the greatest discovery until 2100.[/Pedant]

Hardly a big discovery if Einstein was on about it a hundred years ago.

steddyeddy

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

[Pendant]The Century is only 16 years old. You can't be saying it's the greatest discovery until 2100.[/Pedant]

Well a century is defined as a period of 100 years. I think it is the most amazing discovery of the last 100 years.

Call Me Jimmy

So... are we bending time yet?

tayto lover

What's in it for us?

fleet_admiral

Who What Where When Why?

Dughorm

Cool. So what are they going to do now?

thee glitz

Turok makes a philosophical point that there is something very mysterious about the Universe, and it is that we can understand it. It is astounding that we are sitting here today discussing a cataclysmic event that took place 1.3 billion years ago.

It really is. A highly impressive achievement for Einstein confirmed, and they're all wettin themselves with the thoughts of research funding, but what does it mean for the man on the street...

c montgomery

Mint Aero wrote: »

My penis

Small world

kneemos

thee glitz wrote: »

It really is. A highly impressive achievement for Einstein confirmed, and they're all wettin themselves with the thoughts of research funding, but what does it mean for the man on the street...

Bit abstract I'd say.
The Dyson hand dryer,now there's a discovery.

PC Lackey

steddyeddy wrote: »

100 years after Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted gravitational waves scientists at LIGO detected the elusive waves. This is the biggest discovery of the century and another reason why Einstein was great. It's a great time to be a scientist.

Link from the Guardian as the discovery is announced live!

yet doesnt help me get laid.

disregard.

Roadtoad

The electric kettle with the auto-off switch. That was big.

Calibos

kneemos wrote: »

Bit abstract I'd say.
The Dyson hand dryer,now there's a discovery.

You're mixing this one up with the possible Dysons Sphere discovery a few weeks ago.


That Vacuum cleaner that rolls around corners on a ball is bloody genius though I'll grant you!

ToddyDoody

I'm going to say morketing. Not the greatest invention but certainly the biggest it would seem to me.

StewartGriffin

kneemos wrote: »

Hardly a big discovery if Einstein was on about it a hundred years ago.

That's what I thought too. This talk that it will change the way we view the Universe, I think it's been factored in to the way we view the Universe for a long time. This is a confirmation of what was expected. If they found the waves were not there, that would change the way we view the Universe.

JohnnyChimpo

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Being able to see the universe in an earlier state is of little interest really.

This mindset is baffling and saddening to me

StewartGriffin

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Being able to see the universe in an earlier state is of little interest really.

That's what we see when we look into the sky.

prinzeugen

StewartGriffin wrote: »

That's what we see when we look into the sky.

Know they know they exist can they shut down that yoke in France/Switzerland.

I don't want my bits blasted over the galaxy.

diomed

thee glitz wrote: »

they're all wettin themselves with the thoughts of research funding

This was what I thought when the discovery was announced, but I didn't know the scientific term.

Eugene Norman

Right. An experimental proof of a 100 year old theory nobody doubted is a nice to have but not revolutionary. Not a discovery really. More a verification.

And of course these waves exist. It's that or Gravity is magic.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Sequencing the human genome. Technology that is used today for a whole heap of life changing medicines.

Eugene Norman

StewartGriffin wrote: »

That's what I thought too. This talk that it will change the way we view the Universe, I think it's been factored in to the way we view the Universe for a long time. This is a confirmation of what was expected. If they found the waves were not there, that would change the way we view the Universe.

Oh that bugged me too. There is no way this will change the way we view the universe since it's a confirmation of a theory nobody thought was false anyway. This science as marketing bugs after a while.

titan18

It'll mean very little for a long while, but once we learn what we can do with it, it opens up huge possibilities. Comparison was made to discovery of something like radio waves or electromagnetism. At the time it meant very little in everyday life, huge in the science community but no real practical benefit for everyday society until countless years have passed.

This discovery could be a huge moment for us in relation to space and our understanding of the universe, in a short term. Long term, no one knows yet what the applications could be.

NIMAN

When I heard it, my response was M'eh.

Eugene Norman

titan18 wrote: »

It'll mean very little for a long while, but once we learn what we can do with it, it opens up huge possibilities. Comparison was made to discovery of something like radio waves or electromagnetism. At the time it meant very little in everyday life, huge in the science community but no real practical benefit for everyday society until countless years have passed.

Not really. Nobody doubted that gravity acted as a wave and the fact that it's so hard to find that wave or create a measurable wave means it can't and won't be used to carry information.

This discovery could be a huge moment for us in relation to space and our understanding of the universe, in a short term. Long term, no one knows yet what the applications could be.

it adds nothing to our understanding. Nobody doubted the gravitational wave existence. You also don't have to prove everything in a theory to accept the theory. Nobody doubted Einstein

Experimental physics is noble but it never changes our understanding of theoretical physics unless it disproves theoretical physics. This merely confirms a theory that has many other rigorous proofs. Gravitational lensing was proven 100 years ago.