The Most Incredible Science Events Of 2016

While nearly everyone has been focused on the numerous tragic celebrity deaths of 2016, many otherwise headline-worthy stories slipped under the news cycle radar. Aside from the election, sporting events, and celebrity gossip, many major scientific discoveries were made in 2016, some of which have the potential to alter human history forever. From artificial intelligence breakthroughs to new revelations about space and our planet, this list will countdown the ten most incredible science events of 2016.

Physicists Confirm Existence Of Gravitational Waves

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein theorized that some objects in the universe such as black holes might be so massive that they could actually cause ripple-like waves in gravity itself. While many of Einstein’s theories were proven shortly after their creation, these waves eluded physicists for decades due to the limitations of scientific instrumentation. In 2016, scientists at the California Institute of Technology’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) finally were able to detect gravitational waves, confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity once and for all.