4 Reactions to the Gravitational Waves Discovery

After weeks of speculation, a team of LIGO scientists announced the long-awaited discovery of gravitational waves on Thursday. The discovery confirms a portion of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity 100 years after he first predicted gravitational waves. A lot of people were understandably excited. Here are some of the reactions collected by Popular Science:

• "It's inspiring to think about all the lives and effort, generation after generation, that have gone into uncovering this insight about our universe," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted on the social media site. "Congratulations to everyone who helped make this happen. You've made Einstein proud."
• "I'm delighted," Neil deGrasse Tyson told a PopSci reporter.
• "My congratulations to the LIGO team on their discovery of gravitational waves," Stephen Hawking posted on Facebook. "It is thrilling to see predictions I made over 40 years ago such as the black hole area and uniqueness theorems being observed within my lifetime."
• "If Einstein were alive, he'd totally do a mic drop after today's #LIGO conference on #gravitationalwaves," tweeted representatives of the famous scientist's estate.

(More gravitational waves stories.)