Albert Einstein, via his theories of relativity, predicted a number of very astonishing things.  The bending of light due to large gravitational bodies such as stars was quite easily proven in 1919 by Sir Arthur Eddignton.  It predicted/explained certain characteristics of Mercury’s orbit that had previously been observed.  Time dilation due to not only speed but also gravity have both been proven true and taking his general theory to the extreme, massive gravitational forces that are so powerful that light cannot escape them (IE black holes, an all but verified cosmological certainty).  His theories have withstood every test thrown at them, proving to be almost untouchable and unquestionable by any standard.  Yet there is one prediction that has been impossible to fully test.  Until now that is.

Gravitational waves are more elusive to proving their existence than impossible to see black holes.  We have indirect  evidence thanks to a binary star system and LIGO.  All the bests efforts will be overshadowed by what Popular Science is calling The Largest Science Experiment Ever.  Basically NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are launching three gadgets into space that will shoot lasers at each other when they are about 3 million miles aparts.  In this way will they be able to directly measure gravitational waves as they pass.  This may not be very exciting to everyone out there, but if we are able to measure these waves, we can find out more information about the bodies that originated them, garner an even clearer picture of the creation of the universe, literally prove that black holes exist and come to a more fundamental understanding of the entire cosmos.  If you’d like to think practical applications for some far flung date, gravitational waves are undisturbed by any matter they pass through.  We could theoretically manipulate those waves, just as we’ve done with radio waves, to send messages to the outreaches of space (though they’d still be limited to the speed of light).

It really is a big deal.  Prior to Einsteins time, many thought the whole of scientific knowledge had been uncovered and it was just down to the nitty gritty.  The same thought has been shared in our day, but anyone paying attention knows we might as well be skimming the waters of the Pacific with how much we know about the universe we live in.