Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Dr Philip Charlton is part of an elite group of international scientists recognised with a prestigious award for ground breaking work detecting gravitational waves.

The scientists and engineers of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration, have been awarded a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

CSU is one of 133 institutions named in the special award citation that names all 1012 members of the collaboration and the institutions involved.

The award is in "recognition of an extraordinary scientific achievement that recognises the team's collaborative research on gravitational waves and its implications for physics and astronomy."

The discovery, reported in February 2016, confirmed Einstein's theory of general relativity and opened up a new way of viewing the universe. According to the researchers' calculations, the gravitational wave they detected was the product of a collision between two massive black holes, 1.3 billion light years away.

Dr Charlton, senior lecturer in mathematics at CSU and member of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA), said he was elated to be recognised with the award as the discovery opened a new window on the universe.

"The LIGO detection is the culmination of 30 years of work by a dedicated team of scientists and engineers, involving over 100 institutions worldwide. It is wonderful that the entire team have been recognised in the award.

"In the same way that radio astronomy led to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background, the ability to 'see' in the gravitational wave spectrum will likely lead to unexpected discoveries," Dr Charlton said.

 CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Development and Industry, Professor Mary Kelly said, "We extend congratulations to Dr Charlton and his collaborators from LIGO on receiving this prestigious award.

"It is well-deserved recognition of his contribution to an issue of global importance and is a testament to his long term partnership with the extensive research team to be a part of such an impactful research program."

CSU contributed to detector characterisation, validation of the calibration of the instruments and development of the detection pipeline for the stochastic background of gravitational waves.

The discovery, accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters, was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (which includes the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) and the GEO600 Collaboration) and the Virgo Collaboration using data from the two LIGO detectors.