The existence of gravitational radiation is one of the most important predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The successful observation of gravitational waves (GWs) will have a tremendous impact on physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. A worldwide effort is currently underway to achieve the first direct detection of GWs by using kilometer-scale, ground-based laser interferometers such as Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA, as well as future space-based antennas, such as the planned eLISA mission. Among the most promising sources for the detection of this gravitational radiation are inspiraling and coalescing binary systems composed of black holes and/or neutron stars (compact binaries). While Earth-based observatories are most sensitive to the GWs emitted during the inspiral of binary neutron stars and stellar-mass black hole binaries, space-borne detectors will observe the coalescence of binary supermassive black holes in the centers of distant galaxies, as well as the inspiral of stellar mass compact objects into massive black holes, dubbed extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs). Since the inaugural meeting in 1998, held at Caltech’s Capra ranch near San Diego, Capra meetings have been bringing together many scientists interested in the problem of radiation reaction in general relativity and its application to EMRIs as astrophysical sources of GWs. The meetings address an important open problem in gravitational theory, made particularly relevant by the exciting prospect of directly observing GWs from EMRIs and other compact binaries in the near future.