--- title: Gravitational Waves: Scientists Confirm Einstein's Theory description: Scientists have confirmed Einstein's theory of gravitational waves more than a century after the concept was first proposed, canonical: https://time.com/4217353/einstein-gravitational-waves/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T16:14:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T18:32:13.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Gravitational Waves: Scientists Confirm Einstein's Theory og:description: Scientists have confirmed Einstein's theory of gravitational waves more than a century after the concept was first proposed, og:url: https://time.com/4217353/einstein-gravitational-waves/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34401c1697bceb42/69887d3e524fc0b631df6b73/gravitational-waves-generated-by-binary-neutron-stars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: Evidence of gravitational waves discovered, US physicists say og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gravitational Waves: Scientists Confirm Einstein's Theory twitter:description: Scientists have confirmed Einstein's theory of gravitational waves more than a century after the concept was first proposed, twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34401c1697bceb42/69887d3e524fc0b631df6b73/gravitational-waves-generated-by-binary-neutron-stars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Confirm Einstein's Theory of Gravitational Waves > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8ca2a1d7-7dd8-4ab3-91c0-aab9e2873a7e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Raw: Einstein’s Theory of Gravitational Waves Confirmed [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Einstein’s Theory of Gravitational Waves Confirmed](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uOo6lAk4.m3u8) (0:23)  _Published 2016-02-11. Scientists have confirmed Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves more than a century after the concept was first proposed, researchers announced Thursday._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:32 PM UTCPublished: Feb 11, 2016 4:14 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:32 PM UTCPublished: Feb 11, 2016 4:14 PM UTC Scientists have confirmed Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves more than a century after the concept was first proposed, a dramatic discovery that could change the practice of astronomy, researchers announced Thursday. In September, laser facilities in Washington state and Louisiana both recorded the same distortion in space—measured as a short audible chirp—coinciding with the collision of two black holes a billion light years away. The finding suggests that energy from any movement travels across space and time in waves, leaving slight distortions across anything in its path. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation at the cost of more than $1 billion, has been decades in the making as more than a 1,000 scientists worked on a collaboration known as LIGO, short for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. The two U.S. facilities each have two L-shaped vacuum chamber tubes measuring 4 km (2.5 miles) containing lasers and mirrors. Scientists who designed the devices hoped that the elaborate construction could detect a change in the length of the tube caused by gravitational waves. That’s exactly what happened in September when two black holes—one the size of 36 suns and the other the size of 29—collided a billion lightyears away. And even that only registered as a tiny chirp. “We have detected gravitational waves,” said David Reitze, LIGO executive director, at a press conference Thursday. “We did it!” The discovery also opens the doors to a new era of astronomy research using the measurement of waves. Some scientists suggested the discovery could allow researchers to study what happened during the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago, as waves from that moment still travel across space and time. “It’s been a very long road but this is just the beginning,” said LIGO spokesperson Gabriela González at a press conference Thursday. “Now that we know binary black holes are out there, we’ll begin listening to the universe.” ## Transcript What LIGO does is it actually takes these vibrations in space time, these ripples in space time, and it records them on a photo detector, and you can actually hear them. So what LIGO has done, it's the first time the universe has spoken to us through gravitational waves. And this remarkable. Up to now, we've been deaf to gravitational waves. 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