Right Again, Einstein

ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 3 July 2008 | Phil Berardelli

[Born to Conserve]

Has anyone ever wondered why Einstein didn’t get a Nobel Prize for his theory on relativity?

[neverdem]

Why does “the speed of light remain the only constant”?

It's constant only going through a vacuum. It gets bent and slowed down, i.e. refracted, going through various types of matter.

Is there something special about photons within the universe of particles?

It doesn't have mass, but it has energy according to its wavelength when it behaves like a wave.

Is it the fact that humans have given the effect of photons the name “light” and found that the processing of light (”sight”) is the most useful of the human senses for survival?

That's a judgment call.

Or is it because “light” is the first thing God created?

I'll take a pass on Scripture.

High Energy Gamma Rays Go Slower Than the Speed of Light?

[wendy1946]

Tom is a former director of the Naval Observatory and a major sort of an expert on the subject; what exactly are YOUR credentials??

[Mr. Mojo]

How about comparing the credentials of Einstein and Van Flandern (which is what this discussion is about). The former is, along with Newton, one of the two most brilliant physicists to have ever lived; the latter is a fringer (to put it kindly) who believes that certain features on the surface of Mars are sculptures of "faces" created by extra-terrestrial beings, and that the asteroid belt was created by an exploding planet. Van Flandern's views haven't found acceptance anywhere within the scientific community. (And no, the "scientists" interviewed on the Art Bell show don't qualify).

Einstein's theories (especially General Relativity) have passed rigorous test after rigorous test for close to a century.

[AFPhys]

[RightWhale]

Has anyone ever wondered why Einstein didn’t get a Nobel Prize for his theory on relativity?

No. This is well known.

[RightWhale]

it is well known that gravity propagates instantaneously to within our ability to measure it.

I favor efforts to deconstruct Einstein's relativity, however, crackpots need to stand aside.

[Glenn]

Einstein said some dopey things, particularly about gravity.

He also made some prescient observations about dilettantes. Perhaps he saw you.

[eddiespaghetti]

IINM, in the first decades of the Nobel Prizes, the prize for physics was only awarded for applied (as opposed to theoretical) physics. So after the Eddington expedition validated his theory of relativity (i think the General Theory, but i’m not certain), the Nobel folk awarded the prize to him based (officially, at least) on his work on the photovoltaic effect, which he did in 1905.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks neverdem.

The result... is almost exactly what the famous physicist had foreseen.

Wow, talk about high precision. /snark

[MHGinTN]

I love unintended inane humor ... "watermelon may have Viagra effect as two pulsars precess due to strong attraction" ... Yup, fits the 'good humor'. ;^)

[ModelBreaker]

That guy who wrote the linked article is a complete crackpot!

Article was a big mess of worms, no?

[ShadowAce]

it is well known that gravity works at the speed of light just like all other fundamental force phenomenon.

Incorrect. If that were the case, then gravity would not bend light. Since it it measurably true that gravity does bend light, the speed of gravity is faster than the speed of light.

How much faster, I do not know. But it is faster.