Relativity: Gravitating Toward Einstein

The General Theory of Relativity that Albert Einstein published in 1916 pro posed nothing less than an all-embrac ing theory of gravity. Over the years, as scientists devised increasingly subtle experiments to test Einstein's predictions, the General Theory withstood all challenges But no one was able to check Einstein's conclusion that massive celestial bodies accelerating in space or undergoing cataclysmic events should give off gravitational radiation, a form of energy similar to radio waves that travels at the speed of light. This week, after more than a decade of work, University of Maryland Physicist Joseph Weber offered the...

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