Gravitational waves and black holes are two of the most novel predictions of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. These predictions emerged with the discovery of General Relativity in 1916. However, it took many years to grasp their physical meaning and even more years to obtain direct evidence for their reality.
The lecture will review both the theoretical developments that led to our understanding of gravitational waves and black holes, and the experimental discoveries that confirmed their physical existence and the validity of Einstein’s theory of gravitation.
