Scientists report detection of gravity waves theorized by Einstein

"Gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot otherwise be obtained," said a release from the team LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

The waves from two colliding black holes 1.3 billion years ago were detected on Sept. 14 by twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) detectors in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, both in the United States, according to the statement. The discovery was accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters, it said.

In his general theory of relativity in 1916, Albert Einstein postulated the existence of space-time ripples caused by whirling massive objects. The two black holes cited in the discovery of the waves are estimated to be about 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, the team said.

"It would have been wonderful to watch Einstein's face had we been able to tell him," said Rainer Weiss, professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Weiss is one of the scientists who proposed LIGO for the waves' detection in the 1980s, the release said.

Japan has also built a gravitational wave detector, called KAGRA, in Hidaka, Gifu Prefecture. Takaaki Kajita, a Nobel laureate in physics, has been engaged in the search for the waves using the giant telescope.

After hearing about the discovery of the waves, Kajita, director of the University of Tokyo's Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, said, "It's a historic feat that researchers in gravitational waves and the general theory of relativity have been waiting for. It's really exciting."