Einstein made his share of errors. Here are three of the biggest

nbc ^ | Mar.14.2018 / 8:14 AM ET | Dan Falk /

[BenLurkin]

1. Starlight bends — but how much?

Einstein performed a series of calculations to determine the size of the predicted shift but initially muffed the effort, arriving at a number that was half the correct value.

Had the astronomers managed to test this number in their initial eclipse-viewing efforts, their observations wouldn’t have matched his prediction. But their attempts were stymied by weather in 1912 and by war in 1914. By the time they made the necessary observation, in the spring of 1919, Einstein had corrected his blunder — and astronomers saw exactly the shift that he had predicted.

2. Gravitational waves don’t exist — or do they?

Einstein moved on to other problems. When he returned to it two decades later, he concluded that gravitational waves couldn’t exist because they’d create “singularities” — regions in which space and time are stretched to infinity.

Einstein had goofed because of the mathematical coordinate system he used to tackle the problem. It's a bit like what happens with the latitude and longitude used to track positions on Earth... It works in most places on the planet. But as one gets close to the poles, lines of longitude converge and the system breaks down.

3. Einstein and the expanding universe

Einstein was uncomfortable with some of relativity’s implications, including one of the biggest — that the universe isn’t a static thing but an entity that must expand or contract. This was unthinkable to Einstein, who believed the universe existed in a “steady state.”

So Einstein added a fudge factor to his equations, a kind of energy associated with empty space. This cosmological constant allowed for a stable universe. But sure enough, astronomers in the 1920s confirmed that the universe was expanding. Einstein later called the cosmological constant the “greatest blunder” of his career.

[FredZarguna]

Heaviside was a great and genuinely underappreciated scientist, but calling James Clerk Maxwell an idiot pretty much disqualifies any opinion you have from serious consideration.

[MarvinStinson]

Apparently you never heard of Carl Gauss.

[GingisK]

Great distance. Geometry. Trigonometry. Viewing position.

Did you know you can watch an artillery shell quite some distance from the gun, even though the shell is traveling Mach 2 or so?

[MarvinStinson]

Here is the real Ali:

Ali takes a rest during his fight with Joe Frazier

Media-created fraud Ali just got clobbered by Joe Frazier's left hook.

The talented Ali practices the limbo in his fight with Joe Frazier.

The athletic Ali practices his leg raises during his fight with Joe Frazier.

Ali tries out new boxing stance in his fight with Joe Frazier.

Jimmy Young harassing terrified, swollen-faced Ali.

Ali knocked down by 185 pound Henry Cooper’s left hook in his fight immediately before Ali's two fakes with Sonny Liston.

The bell rang ending the round as Ali got up and lurched toward his corner.

Then Ali got a rest of several minutes between rounds before the fight resumed, instead of the legal one minute between rounds.

Ali knocked down by Sonny Banks’ left hook.

Ali could not defend himself against a left hook.

Ali holds the distinction of being the only heavyweight champion in the history of boxing to lose his title to a novice who had only seven professional fights--Leon Spinks.

[Hot Tabasco]

Well that settles it, Einstein was just a moron.........

[Mears]

Aaaaah,Leon Spinks———we never understood ONE WORD he was saying when being interviewed-——and his language was English. :-)

.

[MarvinStinson]

Media created fraud Ali losing to 7-fight novice Leon Spinks

[Larry Lucido]

Einstein, Newton and Archimedes are in EVERYBODY'S top five lists of physicists of all time.

I think you forgot one.

"It's simple physics. Calculate the velocity, V, in relation to the trajectory, T, in which G, gravity, of course, remains a constant."

[mlo]

"So Einstein added a fudge factor to his equations, a kind of energy associated with empty space. This cosmological constant allowed for a stable universe. But sure enough, astronomers in the 1920s confirmed that the universe was expanding. Einstein later called the cosmological constant the “greatest blunder” of his career."

There is some evidence that, in the end, this may turn out to be not wrong.

[FredZarguna]

Carl Gauss was a great mathematician and physicist but not in the same league.