Abstract

In September 2015, the LIGO gravitational-wave observatory made the first direct detection of a gravitational-wave signal. This Nobel Prize winning achievement marks the dawn of a new era in observational physics and astronomy offering a vast range of unprecedented opportunities to look at (or listen to) our Universe through a new medium. In this talk we present an overview of the theoretical background of this new type of radiation and the methodology how we can observe them. We also discuss the most exciting discoveries made with the about 100 gravitational-wave events that have been detected over the following years and present an outlook on future endeavours of this new rising field of research.