Evidence of gravitational waves from cosmic microwave background radiation found

[midwayfair]

Nothing to do with pedals, but basically this discovery is one of the most important discoveries in physics in decades; it's on par with the Higgs boson to say the least and provides evidence for Inflation Theory, which solves some of the biggest problems in trying to figure out how the Big Bang got so, well, Big.

Here's a NYT article about it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/space/detection-of-waves-in-space-buttresses-landmark-theory-of-big-bang.html?ref=science&_r=1

[ch1naski]

I didn't read the article yet....did they detect the waves with LIGO? (I'm a total physics nerd. Was thinking about getting a Feynman tattoo....lol)

Curt.

[midwayfair]

I didn't read the article yet....did they detect the waves with LIGO? (I'm a total physics nerd. Was thinking about getting a Feynman tattoo....lol)

Curt.

BICEP2 in Antarctica.

If anyone's on REDDIT, there's a really big discussion thread. http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/20n0zn/official_askscience_inflation_announcement/

I'd also expect an AMA as soon as the AskScience or Science mods are able to get one of the people involved.

[madbean]

Yeah, this is a big deal! Very exciting.

Totally useless trivia: Kip Thorne and Hawking had a bet on whether or not gravitational waves would ever be discovered. I think the bet was $10. Somebody gonna get paid.

[aballen]

Cool stuff, but I still Ned Michiu Kaku to to explain it to me before I can pretend to understand it.

[ch1naski]

Yeah, this is a big deal! Very exciting.

Totally useless trivia: Kip Thorne and Hawking had a bet on whether or not gravitational waves would ever be discovered. I think the bet was $10. Somebody gonna get paid.

I know they had a bet that included a subscription to Penthouse magazine, but I think it was about black holes....

This has been quite an exciting couple of years for physics


Curt.

[RobA]

Cool video of the moment when the results were told to Linde

[kothoma]

Thanks for pointing this out!

[hoodoo]

What would become our observable universe mushroomed in size at least a trillion trillionfold  . You know, i had some concerns and was worried about something that had happened recently in my life, not anymore. Puts things in perspective