• Question: What is the probability of Einstein’s theory of relativity been proved incorrect/incomplete? (This is among the tasks for the SKA project)

    Asked by Mark to Sophie on 2 Jan 2020.
    • Photo: Sophie Carr

      Sophie Carr answered on 2 Jan 2020:

      I’m afraid I just don’t know the answer to this one! I do know that as in all subjects things which are “known” often, in the long run, turn out to be wrong. For example, it was thought that the reason an object flew was that the air in the front of the object moved behind it and pushed it forwards until it ran out of energy and that was why the object started to fall – gravity hadn’t been discovered yet. So do I think it’s possible Einstein’s theory will be proved incorrect or incomplete at some point? Yes. Do I think it will be? Don’t know. I suggest you ask this question of every expert and see if someone else has more of an idea than me!

Comments

  • Maths behind where the money goes commented on :

    Thanks … I sort of expected that answer as am left puzzling as to what directed govt. money to that as opposed to say hiring a bunch of engineers working 100% on global cooling technology;). Can you persuade the govt. to use a few more value based algorithms do decide where to spend money!

  • diana commented on :

    special relativity very unlikely to be disproved. although quantum entangelment presents problems.
    principle of general relativity unlikely to be disproved, but modifications may occur. Dark matter and dark energy are post Einstein