Project SherlockEst. Knowledge

Paper

2016

Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)

Reports the direct detection of a ripple in spacetime from two black holes spiralling together, a century after general relativity predicted such waves should exist.

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FreeAdvanced16 pageslink checked 17 Sept 2026

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Not a difficulty warning — a route. These are in the library too.

The Foundation of the General Theory of RelativityAlbert Einstein, 1916Replaces the flat, fixed spacetime of special relativity with a curved spacetime whose geometry is itself shaped by matter and energy.

If this is the wrong level

Too hard? Start hereWhat do gravitational waves sound like?Tessa Baker (The Royal Institution), 2023Explains that a merger's waveform encodes the masses and spins of the objects that produced it, so gravitational waves are a measurement channel rather than a curiosity.

Filed under Relativity & Gravitation in Physics.