Physicists win for gravitational waves discovery

STOCKHOLM — Three U.S.-based scientists won the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for detecting faint ripples flying through the universe — the gravitational waves predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein that provide a new understanding of the universe.

Rainer Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Barry Barish and Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology won the 2017 prize for a combination of highly advanced theory and ingenious equipment design, Sweden’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced.

The scientists were key to the first observation of gravitational waves in September 2015. When the discovery was announced several months later, it was a sensation not only among scientists but the general public.

German-born Weiss was awarded half of the $1.1 million prize amount and Thorne and Barish will split the other half. Barish earned his bachelor’s degree and his doctorate from UC Berkeley.

Gravitational waves are extremely faint ripples in the fabric of space and time, generated by some of the most violent events in the universe.

The waves were predicted by Einstein a century ago as part of his theory of general relativity. General relativity says that gravity is caused by heavy objects bending space-time, which itself is the four-dimensional way that astronomers see the universe. Jim Heintz and David Keyton are Associated Press writers.