Vítor Cardoso, CENTRA researcher and a professor at the Physics Department of IST, was awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant worth 1.5 million Euros. In a year that Einstein's General Relativity celebrates 100 years, the grant will be used to investigate Einstein's equations in extreme conditions, namely in the physics and astrophysics of black holes, and the detection and generation of gravitational waves. Such studies will allow us to understand the universe we live in to unprecedented degree.ERC grants are the most prestigious grants in Europe. This is the second time that Professor Vítor Cardoso is awarded the grant, making him one of the few physicists europe-wide with such distinction.