The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics ran through Hanford site

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - The road to the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics ran through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The prize on Tuesday was awarded to three physicists key to the development of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory at Hanford and its twin in Louisiana.

The two observatories measured movements made by gravitational waves that were created in the last fifth of a second as two black holes spiraling together collided. The gravitational waves had traveled for 1.3 billion years to reach the Earth in September 2015.

The Tri-City Herald reported their detection confirmed predictions Albert Einstein made 100 years earlier about the fabric of space and time.

The winners of the Nobel Prize were three professors emeritus at the two institutions, California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.