SCOTTISH scientists have revealed the historic role they played in a discovery which has been hailed as the scientific breakthrough of the century.

The group were part of an international team of researchers who have announced the detection of gravitational waves travelling through space for the first time.

The find was made using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (Ligo) shortly after it was switched on after an upgrade which included the installation of a system partly designed and built in Glasgow.

Almost immediately it spotted the presence of a gravitational wave passing through the Earth, thrown out by the collision of two black holes more than a billion light years away that lasted less than a second.

The Herald: A student holds up a simulation of the black holes colliding A student holds up a simulation of the black holes colliding

Gravitational waves are 'ripples' in spacetime thrown out by cataclysmic events, and are thought to be key to understanding how gravity works and even why planets orbit stars.

The breakthrough opens a new window on the universe and confirms a prediction made by Albert Einstein a century ago.

But was the work done in Glasgow which was crucial in capturing the 'chirp' made by the wave as it arrived on Earth.

Ligo, which is based in the US, works by measuring subtle displacements on a sub-atomic level in wavelength of lights made by lasers fired down two four kilometre-long tubes.

The equipment made to measure the beams is accurate to an incredible degree, but has to be kept utterly still and free from any outside interference.

The University of Glasgow, along with the University of Strathclyde, the University of Birmingham and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, played a key role in conceiving, designing and delivering the ultra-low-noise suspension system at the detector's heart which ensured it stayed stationary. 

The Herald: Scientists celebrated at the University of Glasgow as the announcement was made Scientists celebrated at the University of Glasgow as the announcement was made

Professor Ken Strain, Deputy Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research at Glasgow, said: "Almost all the subsystems in initial Ligo were upgraded for advanced Ligo. The laser is more powerful, and it's our German colleagues who provided the new lasers.

"The US team's reworked all the vibration isolation systems. The improvements that the laser gave is across the board, the improvement from the active seismic isolation is at the very lowest frequencies.

"But the improvement in the band where this 'chirp' started out comes largely from the suspension technology that came from Glasgow."

The Herald: Glasgow University Professor Martin Hendry, Principal Anton Muscatelli and Glasgow University Professor Ken Strain with a computer simulation of gravity waves which have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence

He added: "It's not that we made advanced Ligo, it's that some of the technology that we contributed has been absolutely essential to that progress."

Professor Sheila Rowan, Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research, said: “This is a monumental leap forward for physics and astrophysics, taking Einstein’s predictions and turning them into an entirely new way to sense some of the most fascinating objects in our Universe.

"Now gravitational wave astronomy will give us the ability to make many exciting new discoveries."

The worldwide hunt for proof of gravitational waves began more than a quarter of a century ago and culminated in the construction of detectors in Louisiana and Washington State.

Proof that gravitational waves can be 'seen' by Ligo means that a whole new branch of astronomy has opened up, joining traditional telescopes and radio telescopes in probing the secrets of the universe.

The project involved 1000 scientists and cost an estimated $620 million dollars (£429m). After 25 years, success came barely a week after the facility underwent the £1 million upgrade to make it more sensitive.

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Professor Gabriela Gonzalez, from Louisiana State University, compared the achievement to that of the 16th century pioneer of modern astronomy, Galileo Galilei.

She said: "It's monumental - like Galileo using the telescope for the first time."

Prof Strain added: "It was actually during the last steps of tuning up that the signal came in. It was literally just as it was being switched on in a project that's meant to last till the end of the decade and beyond. The universe was kind to us."

Theoretical physicist Professor Kip Thorne, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), who originally proposed the Ligo experiment in the 1980s, said the detection of gravity waves would make it possible to spot black holes tearing stars apart, and perhaps violent phenomena previously unknown to science.

He added: "Until now, we have only seen spacetime when it's calm. We have only seen the surface of the ocean on a calm day when it's quite glassy. We have never seen the ocean riled by a violent storm with crashing waves before."