Stephen Hawking and Einstein’s decade-old predictions finally proved right after breakthrough black hole collision

Stephen Hawking's and Albert Einstein’s predictions have finally been proved right after a 'black hole collision'.

In January this year, astronomers spotted two black holes colliding into one another in unprecedented detail, confirming the decades-long theories made by the genius physicists.

The cosmic event, dubbed GW250114, came to light when researchers used the two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory's (LIGO), stationed in Louisiana and Washington.

The instruments picked up on gravitational waves, minor ripples out in the midst of space, which came from the two black holes crashing together, reports CNN.

Einstein made the first prediction of the phenomenon back in 1915, as part of his theory of relativity, finding the search for gravitational waves to be the only way of identifying black hole collisions from Earth.

Two black holes have collided (Getty Images)

However, the theoretical physicist believed there was no way technology would be able to pick up the signals, finding they would likely be too weak to be noticed.

In 1971, British physicist Hawking entered the ring with his own theory on black holes, stating that when two merge, the surface area must be equal to or greater than that of the original.

Fast forward to September 2015, LIGO made history by recording the waves for the first time, awarding the three scientists behind the discovery a Nobel Prize for their development of the 'black hole telescope.'

Now, a decade later, scientists are celebrating another eureka moment in time with the discovery of the two black holes in clearer detail.

Maximiliano Isi, an assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia University and an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York City, explained how the black holes measured around 30 to 35 times the mass of the sun and were spinning slowly.

The discovery goes to prove both Hawking's and Einstein's theories (Santi Visalli/Getty Images)

“The black holes were about 1 billion light-years away, and they were orbiting around each other in almost a perfect circle,” Isi said. “The resulting black hole was around 63 times the mass of the sun, and it was spinning at 100 revolutions per second.”

He continued: "But now, because the instruments have improved so much since then, we can see these two black holes with much greater clarity, as they approached each other and merged into a single one."

Isi claims the latest observation gives the team a brand new view into 'the dynamics of space and time.'

“Yes, black holes are very mysterious, complex and have important implications to the evolution of the universe,” Isi continued, “but mathematically we think they should be fully described by just two numbers.

"Everything there is to know about them should come from how big the black hole is — or what its mass is — and how fast it’s rotating.”

To measure its size, the scientist says researchers use the LIGO's features to prompt a 'ringing' or vibration.

He explained further: "If you have a bell and you strike it with a hammer, it will ring.

It comes down to the waves they give off (Getty Images)

"The pitch and duration of the sound, the characteristics of the sound, tell you something about what the bell is made of. With black holes, something similar happens — they ring in gravitational waves.”

“We identified two components of this ringing, and that allowed us to test that this black hole really is consistent with being described by just two numbers, mass and rotation,” he said. “And this is fundamental to our understanding of how space and time works — that these black holes should be featureless, in some way. It’s the first time we are able to see this so compellingly.”