Editor's Note (Feb. 11): Gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity have been detected directly at last. Einstein was right. You can see our full discovery story here; a video on the find here; and our complete coverage of the historic scientific discovery here. In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers. This was the theory of special relativity. It introduced a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time. Einstein then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the

This modest "update," however, could prove to be one of the most important scientific discoveries of the decade, opening the door to a new era of astronomy wherein scientists can actually watch two black holes devour each other or watch one chow down on a neutron star, the densest object in the cosmos aside from a black hole. Like many other scientific breakthroughs of our time, this all began with a man named Albert Einstein.