A fascinating account written in real time of the unfolding of a scientific discovery the first detection of gravitational waves Scientists have been trying to confirm the existence of gravitational waves for fifty years Then in September 2015 came a very interesting event (as the cautious subject line in a physicist's email read) that proved to be the first detection of gravitational waves In Gravity's Kiss Harry Collins -- who has been watching the science of gravitational wave detection for forty-three of those fifty years & has written three previous books about it -- offers a final fascinating account written in real time of the unfolding of one of the most remarkable scientific discoveries ever made Predicted by Einstein in his theory of general relativity gravitational waves carry energy from the collision or explosion of stars Dying binary stars for example rotate faster & faster around each other until they merge emitting a burst of gravitational waves It is only with the development of extraordinarily sensitive highly sophisticated detectors that physicists can now confirm Einstein's prediction This is the story that Collins tells Collins a sociologist of science who has been embedded in the gravitational wave community since 1972 traces the detection the analysis the confirmation & the public presentation & the reception of the discovery -- from the first email to the final published paper & the response of professionals & the public Collins shows that science today is collaborative far-flung (with the physical location of the participants hardly mattering) & sometimes secretive but still one of the few institutions that has integrity built into it