Albert Einstein is considered one of the most insightful physicists of the modern age. He's largely known for his role in creating the Theory of General Relativity. This theory has completely changed way scientists think about space, time, energy, mass, and even gravity.
Many of Einstein's ideas have been confirmed but not all of them – and this guy still amazes modern scientists. Amazingly, one of his last ideas may have just been confirmed.
I will explain this rather trippy concept without any math for all of you who HATE it, so check it out!
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Einstein predicted how light moves over long distances in the universe...
and as it turns out, gravity can bend light. Holy crap! It's called Gravitational Lensing. This graphic shows two black holes merging and nicely demonstrates how light can be distorted by massive changes in gravity.
Some of Einstein's predictions have been more difficult to confirm.
Some of Einstein's predictions have been more difficult to confirm.
Einstein went out there and said gravitational waves must also exist based on his calculations. Scientists have been trying to pick up these waves and haven't gotten very far.
The math is super complicated, but we don't need that mess to understand the concept. When a huge mass or amount of energy moves through the universe (like a big star or black hole), waves are created in space-time. It's a lot like the way water ripples when hit by a rock.
We've have been wrong about finding these waves in the past! Why are they so hard to detect?
A few years ago, scientists claimed that they had detected them, but were actually just viewing cosmic dust. Jeez, I feel like that is still pretty cool – am I wrong? Not cool enough to confirm Einstein's theory though.
Man, the waves are tiny!
Technology has been unable to pick up gravitational waves because they have just been too small – until now. Rumor has it though that the breakthrough observation may be due to a very large blending of two black holes, a HUGE potential source of gravitational waves.
Why is this a big deal, though?
Why is this a big deal, though?
Why should you care?
So let me tell you why this is a big effing deal.
How do black holes influence space?
Scientists believe that the behavior of black holes will be much easier to understand when we can clearly view waves. Black holes have been really difficult to understand for a long time, so that's huge. But that's not the best part!
Well, how was the universe created? Gravitational waves must have been involved!
It is entirely possible then, using these waves, to understand how the big bang occurred with incredible accuracy. By modelling the waves that reach Earth, we may have a unique lens into large events from the past.
This guy just keeps impressing us all even after death.
Einstein is still having the last laugh.
SOON, we may just know how the universe started!
Main image via Shutterstock
Collage image via WiffleGif
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