Earlier this year , scientists confirmed the presence of gravitative waves , a cosmological feature first predicted by Albert Einstein . In recognition of this remarkable achievement , the scientists involved in the written report have won the $ 3 million Special Breakthrough Prize .
The Special Breakthrough Prize was created by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner along with several applied science pioneers , including Facebook laminitis Mark Zuckerberg and Google co - founding father Sergey Brin . The honour gets hand out in the event of a peculiarly meaningful scientific breakthrough , and this one — the confirmation of gravitational wave — most sure enough apply .
On February 11 , researchers at theLaser Interferometer Gravitational - Wave Observatory(LIGO ) confirmed the presence of gravitational waves , ripples in the universe make by highly energetic cosmogonic events . The informant of this particular signaling pullulate from a supermassive black hole hit that happen some 1.3 billion years ago . Einstein predicted gravitational waves back in 1916 , but it was LIGO that made an actual uncovering potential .
https://gizmodo.com/holy-shit-scientists-have-confirmed-the-existence-of-g-1755465297
“ This discovery has immense meaning : foremost , as evidence for general relativity and its predictions of smutty hole interactions , and secondly as the kickoff of a fresh astronomy that will reveal the cosmos through a different medium , ” state physicist Stephen Hawking , who won the Special Breakthrough Prize in 2013 . “ The LIGO squad extravagantly deserves the Special Breakthrough Prize . ”
The three father of LIGO — Kip Thorne , Rainer Weiss , and Ronald Drever — will each share $ 1 million . The 1,012 scientists and engineers who contributed to the undertaking will split the stay $ 2 million and will each receive close to $ 2,000 each . That chemical group includes many of those involved in LIGO and its sister experimentation , theVirgo Collaboration .
Hallelujah to that . These days , major scientific breakthroughs are rarely the resolution of a unmarried individual or small squad , so it ’s skillful to see all the masses involved in the project get rewarded . What ’s more , it ’s good to ultimately see scientists get the recognition and financial recompense they merit .
“ For us to expend basically a half - hundred since the three of us begin working in this line of business , to have it in reality be pulled off successfully in the fashion we dream — it was really remarkable and wonderful , ” noted Thorne in a Reutersarticle . “ I ’m forever thankful to the team that catch it done . ”
The victor will be honored at the 2017 Breakthrough Prize ceremony to be held later this twelvemonth .
[ Breakthrough Prize , Reuters ]
PhysicsScienceStephen Hawkingtheoretical natural philosophy
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