Scientists may have found actual proof of the Big Bang

Physicists have long speculated that a massive, universe-creating explosion would produce some sort of enormous observable shockwave. But they've never been able to find proof that such an aftershock — which would indicate an event like the Big Bang actually happened — did indeed ripple through space billions of years ago.

That is, until now. Harvard scientists announced Monday that they found evidence of gravitational waves — "ripples in the universe," as Scientific American's Clara Moskowitz put it. Such a finding could help prove the decades-old theory of inflation, which holds that the entire observable universe hurtled outward into existence after an initial explosion. Using a high-powered telescope based at the South Pole to conduct an experiment known as Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization, the scientists detected signs of gravitational waves just a teensy fraction of a second after the Big Bang is believed to have happened.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.