The ANU's Professor Susan Scott dedicated 30 years of her life towards proving that gravitational waves actually exist.

If Albert Einstein's theory of relativity was correct, the ripples in space and time created the when large masses such as black holes collided would be detectable, but some scientists believed it to be impossible.

On September 14, 2015, gravitational waves were detected for the first time by the international Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, thanks to the efforts of more than 1000 scientists around the world.

"We've now unlocked the possibility to see this vast population of black holes throughout the universe because with two black holes, for instance, colliding they don't give off any other signals so they can't be seen in any other way," Professor Scott said.

"And so now we have this huge new field of astronomy, with gravitational waves where we can look at the dark side of the universe that just can't be detected or seen in any other in any other way."

The ANU's Professor David McClelland and Professor Scott have been jointly awarded the prestigious Prime Minister's Prize for Science, along with two other scientists, for their part in the detection.

Professor Scott, who is the first woman physicist to win the award in its 21-year history, said she was thrilled and honoured to have her work recognised by the award.

"The incredible thing is that Einstein presented his theory pretty much exactly 100 years before we made detection and it took us like three decades to build the instruments and make them sensitive enough to be able to achieve the detection.

"I think it's incredibly exciting that I've now been a recipient [of the prize] and I can hopefully inspire young people and young women in particular to pursue these kinds of fields because we are capable, we can do this and it is a valuable and exciting career that women can do."

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For Sarah Fletcher, nothing beats the look on a child's face when a new scientific concept clicks into place.

The Bonython Primary School specialist science teacher has been awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for excellence in science teaching in primary schools for her dedication to inspiring the next generation of scientists while supporting other ACT teachers to present the subject in an engaging way.

Mrs Fletcher regularly brings real scientists into the classroom, from astronomers to herpetologists, to show students from a young age that there is a wide variety of career paths available in science.

"In the science we do in primary school, they're still inquiring, they're so excited but then somehow it sort of gets a bit muddled in high school and they stopped seeing it as a career. It's just something you do at school.

"Having these normal people who are scientists come in and talk to them just gets that idea in their heads that they can do it."

Mrs Fletcher has fostered a network of specialist science teachers in the ACT who share ideas and resources with each other.