WASHINGTON, February 11. /TASS/. US scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity a century ago.

Gravitational waves, which are ripples in space and time, were first detected at the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in September 2015.

Prominent English scientist Stephen Hawking hailed the landmark discovery expected to revolutionize astronomy.

"It is a result that is at least as important as the discovery of the Higgs Boson," Hawking commented on his Facebook account. "With LIGO's increased sensitivity, we can expect many more detections, all improving our knowledge about how the universe works," Hawking added.

Valery Mitrofanov, a physics professor at Moscow State University, said a team of Russian scientists joined the LIGO project back in 1992.

"We will fully realize the importance of this discovery later, as it was with the electromagnetic waves," he said.