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A team of scientists reported Thursday that they heard and recorded the collision of two black holes that collided billions of light years away, a momentary chirp that confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity. The sound that was detected by LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) is the first evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the space-time that was predicted by Einstein 100 years ago. With this discovery, it proves his vision that space and time intertwined in the universe are dynamic and are able to jiggle, shrink and stretch, reported New York Times.

British Physicist and Black hole theorist, Stephen Hawking, shared his excitement and congratulated the US-led collaboration regarding this groundbreaking discovery. "These results confirm several very important predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity," Hawking said in a BBC interview. "It confirms the existence of gravitational waves directly." He also added that this detection not only proves Einstein's theory but also exposes the previously dark universe. "Gravitational waves provide a completely new way of looking at the universe," said Hawking. "The ability to detect them has the potential to revolutionize astronomy."

The physicists used LIGO's twin observing stations situated in Washington and Louisiana that not only detected the gravitational waves but also gave a clear signal that matches the theoretical models of a black hole merging 1.3 billion light years away. "This discovery is the first detection of a black hole binary system and the first observation of black holes merging," he said. "The observed properties of this system is consistent with predictions about black holes that I made in 1970 here in Cambridge," Discovery News reported

"The discovery of this gravitational wave suggests that merging black holes are heavier and more numerous than many researchers previously believed," said LIGO researcher Eric Thrane, from Monash University in Australia. "This bodes well for detection of large populations of distant black holes ... It will be intriguing to see what other sources of gravitational waves are out there, waiting to be discovered," says Science Alert