Was Einstein right? Scientists provide first public peek at Gravity Probe B results

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 122 vote(s)

Gravity Probe B measured two effects predicted by Einsteins general theory of relativity. The geodetic effect says the Earths mass warps local time and space like the weight of a bowling ball placed on a rubber sheet would dent the sheet. The frame-d ...
Gravity Probe B measured two effects predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The geodetic effect says the Earth’s mass warps local time and space like the weight of a bowling ball placed on a rubber sheet would dent the sheet. The frame-dragging effect posits that the rotating Earth drags time and space around with it like a spinning dancer’s body causes her skirt to swirl. Source: Stanford University

For the past three years a satellite has circled the Earth, collecting data to determine whether two predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity are correct. Saturday, at the American Physical Society meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., Professor Francis Everitt, a Stanford University physicist and principal investigator of the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) Relativity Mission, a collaboration of Stanford, NASA and Lockheed Martin, provided the first public peek at data that will reveal whether Einstein's theory has been confirmed by the most sophisticated orbiting laboratory ever created.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for April 16, 2007

Electron microscopy enters the picometer scale

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Jülich scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometres using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters ...

Revolutionary materials reflect ancient forms

3 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although order is pleasing to the eye, it can quickly become boring. In Islamic architecture therefore, decoration often follows a strict yet aperiodic pattern. Similar structures also form ...

Shielding for ambitious neutron experiment

8 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimaterial. In fact, antimaterial can neither be found on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex ...

New Membrane Model May Unlock Secrets of Early-Stage Alzheimer's

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and three collaborating institutions are using a new laboratory model of the membrane surrounding neurons in the brain to study how a protein ...

Sandia to Demonstrate Hyperspectral Confocal Fluorescence Microscope

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Sandia National Laboratories will demonstrate a new hyperspectral confocal fluorescence microscope Friday, Aug. 8 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. MDT in Bldg. 897 on Kirtland Air Force Base. This patent-protected and patent-pending technology ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive