SAN DIEGO -- Construction is under way on a telescope that may enable physicists to measure gravitational waves from the big bang for the first time, UC San Diego announced today.

A pair of donations totaling $1 million enabled the start of construction of the telescope for the project known as Polarization of Background Radiation and dubbed Polarbear.

The initial $400,000 contribution from the James B. Ax Family Foundation was followed by a $600,000 donation from an anonymous donor.

The telescope will initially be located at a University of California research facility in the Inyo Mountains near Bishop.

"The implications of the research derived from this telescope will be unique and far-reaching," said Hans Paar, a UCSD physics professor working on the project.

"Our findings will capture the birth of the universe, providing a deeper understanding of one of the most compelling questions in all of science -- how did our universe begin?"