The discovery of gravitational waves is now common knowledge, but one of its more fascinating results still remains largely unknown. The waves are described as ripples in the fabric of spacetime, a metaphor that has allowed scientists to model them as sound. In other words, the universe can be said to have a ‘music’ to it, ‘heard’ by human technology 1.3 billion years after two black holes merged, their swansong distorting space and time in its wake.
This music, dubbed a ‘chirp’, harkens to the musical nature of the cosmos that dates as far back as philosophy does. The Pythagoreans believed in music representing the order of the universe, as did Plato. In the philosophic tradition closer home, Akasha – the aether, first of the Panchamahabhoota, or “five gross elements” – was identified as having the essential attribute of sound.