Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein, but they were discovered only recently. In a distant region of the Universe, two black holes collapsed and merged. After traveling more than 1 billion light years, they reached Earth in September 2015. LIGO's two giant detectors detected the tiniest tremor. The moment of the first registration of gravitational waves is today recognized as the scientific breakthrough of the century, which opened up for scientists a new understanding of the processes that underlay the formation of the Universe. Govert Schilling's book is a fascinating account of how scientists around the world tried to capture these elusive ripples of the cosmos: decades of research, the twists and turns of the fates of scientists and projects, failures and victories. The author describes seemingly fantastic technologies that make it possible to detect gravitational waves caused by the collision of black holes far beyond the boundaries of our Galaxy. Explaining in accessible language such concepts as “general theory of relativity”, “neutron stars”, “supernova explosions”, “black holes”, “dark energy”, “Big Bang” and many others, Schilling gradually leads the reader to an understanding of the phenomena that laid the beginning of the era of gravitational wave astronomy, and talks about the near future of science, which is just getting ready to discover many of the secrets of the Universe.