The first-ever detection of gravitational waves, which scientists could announce Thursday, would open a new window on the universe and its most violent phenomena.

Scientists will hold a press conference Thursday to discuss the latest in their hunt for these waves, whose existence Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity 100 years ago, according to a statement from the National Science Foundation, which has funded the research.

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) who have been working on the detection of these waves for years will participate.


More. . .

In a presentation set for Thursday at the Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, US researchers are expected to announce that they have detected gravitational waves for the very first time, a century after they were proposed by Albert Einstein.

The expected announcement has generated a lot of anticipation within the physics community as astronomers have been searching for decades for the elusive waves. Gravitational waves are one of the most important variables in Einstein's theory of relativity.

The presentation coincides with the 100th anniversary of the publication of Einstein's theory of relativity which was published in 1916.


More. . .

More gravitational waves detected


Scientists have collected a second burst of gravitational waves sweeping through the Earth.

The warping of space-time was sensed on Christmas Day in the US at the Advanced LIGO laboratories - the same facilities that made the historic first detection in September last year.

According to UK collaboration member Prof Bernard Schutz of Cardiff University, making a second detection proves the first was not just an isolated event, and that Advanced LIGO really does have the capability to open up a new cosmic realm to investigation.