They have observed the warping of space-time generated by the collision of two black holes more than a billion light-years from Earth.
The international team says the first detection of these gravitational waves will usher in a new era for astronomy.
It is the culmination of decades of searching and could ultimately offer a window on the Big Bang.
The research, by the Ligo Collaboration, has been published today in the journal Physical Review Letters.
The collaboration operates a number of labs around the world that fire lasers through long tunnels, trying to sense ripples in the fabric of space-time.
Opinions:
The scientists say the waves were produced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes 1.3 billion years ago. For a brief fraction of a second, it was producing more power than the rest of the visible Universe combined. This marks a new frontier for astronomy and hopefully a renewed interest in space as a subject.
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