On September 14, 2015, the twin LIGO detectors in Louisiana and Washington State simultaneously registered a gravitational-wave signal (GW150914) from the merger of two black holes roughly 1.3 billion light-years away — the first direct detection of gravitational waves, confirming a 1916 prediction of Einstein's general relativity and earning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for three of LIGO's founders.
The question, scope, and sources behind this Registry record.
On September 14, 2015, the twin LIGO detectors in Louisiana and Washington State simultaneously registered a gravitational-wave signal (GW150914) from the merger of two black holes roughly 1.3 billion light-years away — the first direct detection of gravitational waves, confirming a 1916 prediction of Einstein's general relativity and earning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for three of LIGO's founders.
The first confirmed direct detection of gravitational waves by a laboratory instrument, as opposed to indirect evidence from binary pulsar timing.
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Current frontiers derived from accepted Claims.
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The frontier as it changed over time.
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1 accepted Claim, with 1 linked evidence records.
Permanent ID limitsregistry.com/limits/LR-FIRST-OBSERVATION-GRAVITATIONAL-WAVES
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Limits Registry. LR-FIRST-OBSERVATION-GRAVITATIONAL-WAVES. First direct detection of gravitational waves. 2026.