n experiment that solved a 100-year-old mystery posed by Einstein is about to turn back on — and it's more powerful than ever

A worker inspects quartz fibers that suspend a mirror inside the Virgo gravitational-wave observatory. EGO/Virgo Collaboration/Perciballi

Business Insider

Dave Mosher Mar. 28, 2019

One of the most remarkable experiments in history — a pair of giant machines that listen for ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves— will wake up from a half-year nap on Monday. And it will be about 40% stronger than before.

That experiment is called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO); it consists of two giant, L-shaped detectors that together solved a 100-year-old mystery posed by Albert Einstein.

In 1915, Einstein predicted the existence of ripples in the fabric of space However, he didn't think these gravitational waves would ever be detected — they seemed too weak to pick up amid all the noise and vibrations on Earth. For 100 years, it seemed Einstein was right.

See full text