Clifford Will “Was Einstein Right?”
Monday, June 23rd, 2008A public lecture in the Living Reviews in Relativity Anniversary Lectures Series. We are celebrating our 10th year online with a number of colloquia by distinguished authors in the Berlin/Potsdam area.
Date: July 7, 2008 – 19:00
Place: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin, Hauptgebäude Hörsaal 3075 (map)
Abstract: How has the most important scientific theory of the 20th century held up under the exacting scrutiny of planetary probes, radio telescopes, and atomic clocks? After almost 100 years, is Einstein still right? In this lecture we will relate the story of testing relativity, from the 1919 measurements of the bending of light to modern measurements of decaying double-neutron-star systems that reveal the action of gravity waves, to a 2004 space experiment to test whether spacetime “does the twist”. We will show that future observations using gravitational wave detectors and other astronomical tools will test Einstein’s theory in new regimes, and may prove once and for all whether black holes really exist.
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