back to article Physicists win Nobel Prize for spotting ripples in fabric of space-time

The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to three researchers crucial to the first detection of ripples in the fabric of space-time – gravitational waves. Half the prize went to MIT physicist Rainer Weiss and the other half to California Institute of Technology physicists Barry Barish and Kip Thorne. They're all …

  1. GrumpenKraut
    Thumb Up

    Dude. Woah.

    Appreciated sub head is appreciated.

  2. Paul Herber Silver badge

    Did I just see a velvet paisley-covered Chesterfield sofa go wafting across the garden?

    1. Alister

      Did I just see a velvet paisley-covered Chesterfield sofa go wafting across the garden?

      If not, you may have missed the herd of Perfectly Normal Beast flattening your greenhouse...

      1. IanTP

        I think that's a SEP probably...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is great news and it seems we are well on our way to answering the ultimate question, Which is heavier? 1 kilo of potatoes or 1 kilo of bananas.

  4. Alister

    Eddies in the time-space continuum

    Ah, is he?

    "Er, who," said Arthur, "is Eddy, then, exactly, then?"

    1. Oliver Mayes

      Re: Eddies in the time-space continuum

      And this is his sofa, is it?

  5. DagD

    This isn't a new discovery...

    "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather"

    Tool - Third Eye.

    1. Zmodem
    2. Excellentsword

      Re: This isn't a new discovery...

      That's Bill Hicks, m8. Tool admired him a lot.

      1. DagD

        Re: This isn't a new discovery...

        Thank you, I stand corrected on the proper source. Just off the cuff quoted it from the clip I remember it from.

        From Wiki: Source Bill Hicks taken from

        Extract from Revelations, London, 1993. The extract is part of the concluding track to the album, called "It's Just a Ride", in which he essentially outlines his world view.

    3. Gobhicks

      Re: This isn't a new discovery...

      It takes a heroic dose to squeegee your third eye. Physicists on psychedelics, a match made in California.

  6. WibbleMe

    Nukes create tachyons that travel backwards in time creating a ripple waring us of the appending apocalypses.

    1. RockBurner

      @WibbleMe - you a Paycheck fan?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > "Nukes create tachyons that travel backwards in time..."

      Let's assume that's correct. Then from our point of view, the tachyons would travel from the far distance at high speed and arrive here on Earth just as the bombs are going off. Thus we would have a few microseconds of warning at best.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Go

        .time in backwards travelling upvotes are getting I'm downvotes Those

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nipples in the fabric of space time ?

    Must be late afternoon sugar low... but I swear that this is what I misread ! Ok time to hit the road.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But...

    ...are they ripples or particles?

    1. DropBear
      Trollface

      Re: But...

      Yes.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: But...

        Mathematics is a representational system, therefore "Neither" is also correct.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: But...

      I think the scientific term is "stuff".

  9. herman

    Eddies vs ripples

    "Eddies," said Ford, "in the space-time continuum."

    "Ah," nodded Arthur, "is he? Is he?" He pushed his hands into the pocket of his dressing gown and looked knowledgeably into the distance.

    "What?" said Ford.

    "Er, who," said Arthur, "is Eddy, then, exactly, then?"

    "There!" said Ford, shooting out his arm. "There, behind that sofa!"

    Arthur looked. Much to his surprise, there was a velvet paisley-covered Chesterfield sofa in the field in front of them. He boggled intelligently at it. Shrewd questions sprang into his mind.

    "Why," he said, "is there a sofa in that field?"

    "I told you!" shouted Ford, leaping to his feet. "Eddies in the space-time continuum!"

    "And this is his sofa, is it?" asked Arthur, struggling to his feet and, he hoped, though not very optimistically, to his senses.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Eddies vs ripples

      It's always nice when things work out according to plan.

    2. Teiwaz

      Re: Eddies vs ripples

      I preferred 'Then, tell him to come and collect his sofa'

      ..from the radio version though...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvQuJ1xnjhc

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