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Ripples in the fabric of space-time first
predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein, gravitational waves
sparked a revolution in astrophysics when their first detection
was announced early last year.
The teams involved in the discovery quickly emerged as
favourites for Tuesday's prize.
"This is something completely new and different, opening up
unseen worlds," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a
statement announcing the winners of the 9 million Swedish crown
($1.1 million) award.
"A wealth of discoveries awaits those who succeed in capturing
the waves and interpreting their message."
Triggered when super-dense black holes merge, the waves were
detected using laser beams at the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
"The signal was extremely weak when it reached Earth, but is
already promising a revolution in astrophysics," the Academy
said.
Physics is the second of this year's crop of Nobel Prizes and
comes after Americans Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael
Young were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on
Monday.
The prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace
were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of
Swedish business tycoon Alfred Nobel, who bequeathed much of the
fortune he generated from his discovery of dynamite.
Among the science prizes, physics has often taken centre stage
with laureates including scientific super stars such as
Einstein, Niels Bohr and Marie Curie, one of only two women to
win a Nobel Prize for Physics.
Weiss won half the prize with Barish and Thorne sharing the
other half.
($1 = 8.1666 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson, additional
reporting by Helena Soderpalm, Anna Ringstrom, Daniel Dickson
and Johannes Hellstrom; editing by John Stonestreet)
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