Gravitational waves embargo broken by tweeted picture of Nasa celebratory cake

The world of science had waited a century for confirmation of Albert Einstein’s prediction that gravitational waves existed, only to be surprised when the announcement came 16 minutes early – in the form of a celebratory cake.

Erin Ryan, a research associate at the University of Maryland who works at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center, tweeted the photo of a cake celebrating “the first direct detection of gravitational waves!” at 10.14am local time on 12 February. The official embargo was due to be lifted at 10.30am.

Ryan responded to Twitter users’ criticism, saying embargos applied to the media and she had not been the only person to refer to the announcement – nor even the only person to tweet a picture of the cake. Astrophysicist Marc Kuchner tweeted the cake minutes after Riley did, but still before the embargo was lifted.

Ryan tweeted that media embargos applied only to the press and the information they had been sent: “This does not happen with cake.”

She also clarified that she was not an employee of Nasa but a “university scientist ‘blessed’ (as I am often reminded from all fronts) to have a desk on center”.

The problem was, she said, that she was followed on Twitter by Washington Post and NPR reporters.

In any case, Ryan tweeted: “Embargo was already broken to tell the baker!”

Somewhat incredibly, it is not the first time tweeting a picture of a cake to mark a scientific breakthrough has landed Ryan in trouble.

In September 2013 she tweeted a picture of a cake celebrating the discovery of a chemical on one of Saturn’s moons.

As a result, she said, she received an official reprimand from her boss.

She told the Washington Post, which broke the story, that her employer also told her to “maybe chill with the tweeting for a week or so”. (Ryan has not responded to the Guardian request for comment.)

This time the repercussions – those that Ryan publicised online, at least – were limited to an email from her PhD adviser with the subject line “Bad Girl” and the speak-no-evil monkey emoji in the body.

“Guess news is getting around,” she said.

She said her undergraduate adviser had also texted her to see how she was doing: “I do think it’s nice that they’re checking in on me.”

She has noted her predilection in her Twitter bio, describing herself as an “infamous cake-tweeting embargo breaker” (as well as an “extreme stress baker”).

The cake Ryan tweeted was not the only one to celebrate the “direct detection of gravitational waves”. The unofficial Twitter account of the LIGO Hanford Observatory tweeted another more elaborate one hours later.

Meanwhile, the UK division director of “the world’s largest commercial meteorite company”, astronomer Nick Howes, said he had asked the bakery chain Greggs to create a replica of the cake.

Greggs reportedly advised Howes that it would take four days. “I love it,” he tweeted.