Having a Malaysian on the team that made the recent groundbreaking discovery which confirmed the existence of gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago, is a big boost for Malaysian academia and the public at large.

"This will definitely be a great motivation for Malaysians and its impact is comparable to the one resulting from the success of sending our very own astronaut into space.

"'Malaysia Boleh!' will resonate among the Malaysian academics," Prof Mohamed Ridza Wahiddin from Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) Malaysia's office of deputy rector (research and innovation) told Malaysiakini .

He also expressed UIA's pride and joy that one of its own was involved in the historic discovery.

"Joy and pride! The achievement is a continuous effort to uphold academic excellence in UIA. This will pave the way for the multi-discipline subject matter experts in UIA to understand better the Big Bang Theory (and the creation of the universe) and its explanation by the Holy Quran," he said.

Ridza said that UIA academic trainee, Hafizah Noor Isa, who is one of the scientists who co-wrote the study which proves the existence of Einstein's gravitational waves, is currently a PhD student at University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy, affiliated with the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (Supa).

Supa is part of the international team that collaborated with the United States’ Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo) which led the historic discovery.

She has been entrusted by her supervisor Ian McLaren to work in two groups, namely the Materials Condensed Matter Physics (MCMP) Group and the Institute of Gravitational Research (IGR).

Her main research activity is to study the properties of mirrors used in laser interferometers and find ways to improve the coatings used on them.

In particular, she is currently researching the use of Titania-doped Tantala glass as coating on interferometers, which is the one that was used in the Ligo detector.

A major breakthrough

One of the current limitations with respect to sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors is thermal noise that arises from the mirror coatings.

Ridza added that Hafizah is the second UIA academic to be involved in major scientific discovery in recent years.

Previously, Dr Afidalina Tumian made headlines by being involved in the research on human genome. She obtained her PhD from University of Oxford and is the only academic in IIUM who has successfully published in both the prestigious journals Science and Nature .

However, he poured cold water on talks that Hafizah's role in the gravitational wave discovery could lead to Malaysia's first Nobel Prize winner.

"There are so many scientists/contributors associated with this important discovery. My hunch is the Nobel Prize will be given to the main figures directly affiliated to Ligo which is based in the US within five years," he said.

Ridza explained that the discovery is a major breakthrough because gravitational waves are minute disturbances that are very difficult to detect.

The scientists only finally found the right method by designing one of the most complex and sensitive light interferometers to date.

"However, it also opens up the more interesting challenge and that is to actually disprove Einstein's theory of relativity," he said, referring to the explanation on the Economist article on the discovery, which stated that the ability to measure Einstein's gravitational waves may actually lead to the debunking of the theory of relativity.

The reason being, that it may allow scientists to finally delve into the secrets of the Big Bang, or the theorised origin of the universe, which Einstein's works have never been able to adequately explain, as well as look at where his theory contradicts that of more modern expositions like quantum mechanics.

The article posits that the ability to observe events such as the Big Bang and other extreme conditions which give birth to gravity waves, may hold the key to debunk Einstein's theory of relativity and find a more inclusive exposition that will tie it in with 20th century physics.