Posted on 03/29/2011 3:09:31 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Could Einstein's Theory of Relativity be a few mathematical equations away from being disproved? Jacob Barnett of Hamilton County, Ind., who is just weeks shy of his 13th birthday, thinks so. And, he's got the solutions to prove it.
Barnett, who has an IQ of 170, explained his expanded theory of relativity — in a YouTube video. His mother Kristine Barnett, who admittedly flunked math, did what every other mother would do if her genius son started talking mathematical gibberish. She told him to explain the whole thing slowly while she taped her son explaining his take on the theory.
While most of his mathematical genius goes over our heads, some professors at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey — you know, the U.S. academic homeroom for the likes of Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Kurt Gödel — have confirmed he's on the right track to coming up with something completely new. For now, they're encouraging Barnett to continue doing what he likes to do, which is explaining calculus using a whiteboard marker and his living room windows as seen in the video above.
“I'm impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has learned so far,” Institute for Advanced Study Professor Scott Tremaine wrote in an email to the family. “The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics.”
“Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize,” he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsfeed.time.com ...
It would be nice if he could find a way to break the light speed barrier, and whip up a FTL drive at the same time. Then maybe we could get some serious interest in exploring new planets.
Get busy, kid!!
Shoot. I was going to do that right after I ate my macaroni and cheese. Never mind, now.
the light speed barrier is based on the assumption that light IS the barrier.
Too bad the award has been so cheapened by the "accomplishments" of Algore and zerO.
No kidding I hope he does it
Wow, thats just plain amazing. I watched half the video. It was really a waste of time for me lol. But he did sound smart. I hope he goes far!
Good thing his mother didn’t abort him.
I'm looking forward to seeing what this boy may accomplish.
Not the Science prizes...which are given by a different committee in a different country.
Indeed.
Don’t ask me. I still have problems with my divided-bys and never got through a single semester of algebra.
I have nothing but awe and respect for kids like this.
Well there is mathematics underlying music. Some people (like myself) take to music intuitively and have to work at the math behind it. Some get into the math—intervals, etc. The ones who have both—those are your musical geniuses (e.g. Bach—science and art all in one.)
If he grows up and changes his name to Zephran Cochran we can expect and exciting time.
And Arafat who won the prize for peace.
I love music and learned to play by ear. The math part of it drives me insane.
There’s no concept of ‘proof’ in stuff like this. There’s evidence. And relativity has been shown to be valid in every experimental context its been examined in. Besides what’s the alternative?
bkmrk
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