When Albert Einstein unveiled his general theory of relativity in 1916, he predicted several phenomena that could be used to test its validity. Two of them -- that light is bent by gravity and that the orbit of Mercury wobbles in a certain way -- were confirmed within just a few years, convincing scientists that relativity was a revolutionary discovery, not just a mathematical curiosity. But Einstein thought another of his claims would never be proved. His theory predicted that fast-moving, massive objects emit gravity waves, small distortions moving through the fabric of space and time. Einstein said these waves would...
Science: Signals From Distant Disasters
The search intensifies for Einstein's gravity waves
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