New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Indian scientists who received the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics on Monday.

“These scientists have been awarded for detection of gravitational waves, an exceptional scientific accomplishment", the Prime Minister said.

The scientists and engineers were recognized for contributing to the momentous detection of gravitational waves which was announced on 11 February. The $3 million prize will be shared between three founders of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the 1,012 contributors to the discovery which includes more than 30 scientists from Indian institutes.

“There are 37 authors from Indian institutes on that paper describing the detection of gravitational waves and it is a great moment for us," said Tarun Souradeep, senior professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

“We have detected gravitational waves, but we do not know where to point to and see signatures of these waves. LIGO India will not only hear but also see where it happened," Souradeep added.

The work on LIGO India has already started, the sites are being finalized and the detectors are expected to be operational in seven years.The proposed detector will be a 4-km-long L-shaped interferometer that will use laser light split into two beams that travel back and forth down the arms.

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