Field theory describes the universe as energy flowing along unending lines. With this perspective, it is possible to define a new fundamental building block of matter.
Roger Penrose helped resurrect Einstein's general theory of relativity, and Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez showed there was a black hole in the middle of our galaxy.
This image of the NGC 1398 galaxy, which is located in the Fornax cluster, was taken with the Dark Energy Camera.
Dark Energy Survey/Flickr
The crucial phase of our discovery of black holes took place in a suitably dark period of human history – World War II.
An artist’s impression of the path of star S2 as it passes very close to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. The very strong gravitational field causes the colour of the star to shift slightly to the red. (Size and colour exaggerated for clarity.)
ESO/M. Kornmesser
Astronomers traced a single star as it passed close to the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, and detected the telltale signature of Einstein’s gravity in action.
Triple star system involving a pulsar suggests Einstein was right.
Kevin Gill/Flickr
Exactly 99 years after Einstein's theory of general relativity was proven right in our own solar system, scientists show that it also holds true for entire galaxies.
Hawking had a cult-like following among academics and non-academics alike.
kosalabandara/flickr
A future that continues to have increasingly fast computing depends on quantum physics – but research is showing that there are limits to how fast quantum computers can go.
Image showing where scientists believe dark matter resides in the galaxy cluster Abell 520
– near the hot gas in the middle, coloured green.
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Is dark energy just an illusion, as is often suggested? To resolve the dilemma, interpreting the basic principles of general relativity in a complex Universe may need a rethink.
Gravity of a white dwarf star warps space and bends the light of a distant star behind it.
NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI
These ripples in the very fabric of the universe were hypothesized by Einstein a century ago. Now scientists have detected them for the third time in a year and a half – ushering in a new era in astrophysics.
The discovery of the year was the first detection of gravitational waves.
LIGO/T. Pyle