Maria Charisi

Graduate Student, Columbia University

Black hole duet: Hearing the universe for the first time

A hundred years after Einstein's theory of Relativity and the prediction of gravitational waves, we have detected, for the first time, tiny ripples in space-time from two colliding black holes in the distant universe. This amazing breakthrough of modern physics and engineering opens a completely new window into the cosmos. I will discuss the exciting first discovery and the bright future of gravitational-wave astronomy.