Abstract

Einstein’s general theory of relativity is one of the finest achievements of the human mind. It has fundamentally changed the way we think about space and time, and how these in turn interact with matter. Based on this theory Einstein made several predictions, many of which have been verified experimentally. Among the most elusive phenomena that he predicted are gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time. They are disturbances in the space-time continuum which propagate with the speed of light. This contribution describes some of their properties, their sources and how it is intended to detect them.

This paper was presented at GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE : Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows in association with the New Zealand Association of von Humboldt Fellows. 20–22 November 2015, Hobart, Tasmania.Professor Jörg Frauendiener is from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago, New Zealand