Proof: Einstein was right all along

ALASTAIR JAMIESON
ajamieson@scotsman.com

EINSTEIN was right and Newton was wrong, according to
research. Scientists have discovered that gravity travels at the
same speed as light.

Sir Isaac Newton, who is credited with discovering gravity in the
late 17th century, believed gravity was instantaneous.

Ed Fomalont, an astronomer, and Sergei Kopeikin, a theoretical
physicist, used the world™s most powerful telescopes to watch as
Jupiter almost eclipsed a distant star.

They determined the speed of gravity by measuring the apparent
change in the star™s position when the planet passed almost in
front of it on 8 September, 2002. Dr Fomalont, of the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory in Virginia, and Professor
Kopeikin, of the University of Missouri-Columbia, said: "Gravity
does move at the same speed as light.

"Our result rules out the possibility gravity travels instantaneously,
as Newton imagined.

"If it did, we would have seen a minutely different shift in the
position of the star ."

Albert Einstein assumed gravity travelled at the same speed as
light when he devised his general theory of relativity in 1915.

The study is published in the New Scientist and will be presented
this week at the American Astronomical Society™s annual meeting
in Seattle.

The scientists said: "This vindicates Einstein™s instinct when
formulating his general theory of relativity, which was to assume
the speed of gravity was equal to the speed of light."

As well as discovering gravity - the apple, contrary to legend, fell
near him and not on his head - Newton also revealed that sunlight
was made of seven colours and developed three laws of motion.

But he received his knighthood for more mundane achievements
after he improved coins to prevent counterfeit while serving as
master of the Royal Mint in London in 1693.

---
To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>