Tag: gravity

Reality Check!
Astronomy and planetary sciences, Space flight

Reality Check!

From Einstein’s theory of relativity to the remarkable discovery of gravitational waves, a century-long ride.   Intro 100 years after it was first published, Einstein’s theory of relativity has emerged copiously triumphant in the wake of the recent direct detection of gravitational waves. Einstein said that everything is relative. Gravity isn’t exactly a downward force, time is not absolute and it’s all about ‘spacetime’. Was Isaac Newton entirely mistaken? We hear ‘general relativity’ and we think ‘ E=mc2 ’, Albert Einstein’s gift to humanity. The general theory of relativity was published by Albert Einstein in 1916. A century later, in late 2015, the very first direct detection of the ‘gravitational waves’ as predicted by general relativity has ensued. Thanks to the brilliant LI...