Posted on 07/04/2007 4:07:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
One of the great paradoxes of physics is that while gravity was the first force in nature to be described physically and mathematically -- Isaac Newton worked out its basic laws more than 300 years ago -- it may be the last to be understood. Generations of physicists have remained stumped by the utter strangeness of gravity: Not only is it the weakest of the four natural forces, but it is also the only one that appears to be directly related to the nature of space and time... The uniquely geometric nature of gravity has made it frustratingly difficult to contain within the same framework as the laws governing subatomic phenomena, namely quantum mechanics... The other major conundrum that drives physicists to distraction is why gravity is so much weaker than all the other forces. Physicist Richard Feynman illustrated the disparity with the following description: If a man jumps out of a tall building, it may take gravity 200 feet to pull him down to the ground, but electromagnetism halts him in a fraction of an inch... When we turn on the world's largest particle accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva -- next year, will we open a portal into other dimensions? When we measure the forces between distant galaxies more accurately, will we find deviations from Newton's laws, as Milgrom suggests? I wouldn't bet on either of these possibilities, but there is one bet that is easy to make: Whatever surprises nature has in store for us, they are likely to involve gravity.
(Excerpt) Read more at discovermagazine.com ...
The question is, will they ever honor another Princeton resident, John Forbes Nash?
Really? What’d they bust ‘im for?
;’)
Einstein’s Theory ‘Improved’?
PhysOrg.com | 13 February 2006 | Staff
Posted on 02/14/2006 7:08:45 AM EST by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1578127/posts
Ah, but didn’t he have a ‘beautiful mind’?
I haven’t seen Dr. Nash in my many walks through Princeton, although I have seen Joscka Fishcher and Cornel West.
The Politically Incorrect
Guide to Science
by Tom Bethell
Just type her name into YOUTUBE and check out a few of her lectures.
And she ain't bad looking either.
Thanks.
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