The special theory of relativity, brilliant as it was, still had some holes to account for after its initial conception. Einstein’s equivalence principle would help to address these issues, though the equations would take years to refine. Discover how Einstein’s findings challenged conventional beliefs about the nature of gravity as well as geometry. […]
In his quest to develop a general theory of relativity, Einstein spent many years working to resolve inconsistent and, at times, incorrect math. Another mathematician, David Hilbert, was also working toward solving the equations. So, the year of 1915 became a race to see who would be the first to complete the greatest and most celebrated theory in the history of physics. […]
By 1912 or so, Einstein had, more or less, the major conceptual pieces in place for what would ultimately become his general theory of relativity. But he did not have a working theory, yet. […]
Take a look at what was incomplete about the special theory of relativity, and what conceptual elements Einstein used to formulate his general theory of relativity. […]
Einstein’s theory of special relativity clarified a lot of confusion circulating in the scientific community about the nature of light waves. This theory is still quite difficult to wrap your head around, though. We’ll use some mind-boggling, yet concrete, examples to illuminate this theory that forever changed our understanding of space and time. […]
Before Einstein introduced his theory of special relativity, the science community was perplexed about how to measure the speed of light. Einstein proposed that light waves did not behave like sound or water, and he was right. Discover how he came up with a solution to this puzzling phenomenon. […]
For centuries, Newtonian physics was the dominant worldview. However, Einstein shook up the scientific community with his groundbreaking papers on light quanta; atoms; and, eventually, his special theory of relativity. […]
On Wednesday, March 14 2018, the world lost physicist, author, and director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, Stephen Hawking.
We reached out to a handful of our professors for their thoughts on the man that forever changed our understanding of the physical universe. […]
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