The recent confirmation that at least some gamma-ray bursts originate
at cosmological distances(1-4) suggests that the radiation from them c
ould be used to probe some of the fundamental laws of physics. Here we
show that gamma-ray bursts will be sensitive to an energy dispersion
predicted by some approaches to quantum gravity. Many of the bursts ha
ve structure on relatively rapid timescales(5), which means that in pr
inciple it is possible to look for energy-dependent dispersion of the
radiation, manifested in the arrival times of the photons, if several
different energy bands are observed simultaneously. A simple estimate
indicates that, because of their high energies and distant origin, obs
ervations of these bursts should be sensitive to a dispersion scale th
at is comparable to the Planck energy scale (similar to 10(19)GeV), wh
ich is sufficient to test theories of quantum gravity. Such observatio
ns are already possible using existing gamma-ray burst detectors.