NPR

They Proved Einstein Right; Now They've Won The 2017 Physics Nobel Prize

For years, three physicists worked to prove Albert Einstein's idea that gravitational waves are rippling through space-time. In 2015, they made history as part of the LIGO Collaboration.
Nobel Committee for Physics members announce the 2017 Nobel Prize winners at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. The laureates are, from left to right: Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne. / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / Getty Images

Three colleagues, Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, and Kip S. Thorne, have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics, for their contributions to work that led to the observation of gravitational waves — something that happened for the first time in 2015.

Speaking of decades of trial and error that preceded their discovery, Weiss said Tuesday, "It's very, very exciting that it worked out in the end."

Weiss spoke by phone to the Royal Swedish

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