--- Einstein, it seems, is
being transferred from his itty bitty theoretical cubicle to a nice
office in the practical and applied section of the geek department at
Stanford.
Gravity Probe B is the relativity gyroscope experiment being
developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two extraordinary,
unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of
relativity.
The experiment will check, very precisely, tiny changes in the
direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth satellite
orbiting at 400-mile altitude directly over the poles. So free are the
gyroscopes from disturbance that they will provide an almost perfect
space-time reference system. They will measure how space and time are
warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the
Earth's rotation drags space-time around with it. These effects, though
small for the Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of
matter and the structure of the Universe.
The only way theoretical physics has ever interested me is if the math
is correct, most people will take these physicists work for the
truth---even though there is no practical way of proving their
theories. Seems Einstein's finally getting his lab time. I wonder what
will happen if the experiment doesn't prove the hypothesis, though.
Does that mean Hawking and all the rest are wrong? Hmmph.