Wallace G. Smith

It is not very large—in fact, it is only a little larger than your closed fist. Yet its small size belies the unique and vital role it plays in your life. Indeed, without it you would have no life at all! Hour by hour, minute by minute and even second by second, you depend on it utterly, yet unless there is something wrong with it we often fail to give it a second thought.

On February 11, 2016, a group of very excited scientists announced that after patiently searching for decades they had discovered gravitational waves.