Einstein's Biggest Blunder

according to Einstein space isn't simply a void it's more like a four-dimensional fabric woven from both space and time the mass of planets can warp and distort the fabric gathering other celestial objects like moons around them and it's this bending of space-time that creates the effect we experience as gravity the problem that Einstein had is when he solved his equations of general relativity what he found was that he predicted that the universe should actually be expanding and that was radically different from the perceived wisdom at the time which was that we lived in a static universe both static in time and in space so he put in an extra term into the equations he called it the cosmological constant to use the Greek variable lambda but effectively it was really just what you know a physics undergraduate call a fudge factor that was just designed to make the equations come out right and it would just make the universe sort of standstill in the u.s. an astronomer Edwin Hubble was about to get a reputation for scientific cleverness himself he'd been using the world's largest telescope at Mount Wilson in California to peer deeper into space than anyone had ever looked before what he discovered completely changed the meaning of the word universe until Hubble it had been thought that the universe was our galaxy what Hubble saw was that in fact our galaxy is just one of countless millions but more importantly that all these galaxies were moving apart from each other the universe wasn't static after all this had huge implications it introduced the notion of a beginning and an age for the universe but more importantly for Einstein it meant that he could ditch his fudge factor the cosmological constant and return general relativity to its former glory Einstein was over the moon in 1931 he went to Mount Wilson to shake Hubble's hand and thank him for putting Beauty back into his equation lambda he later confessed was the biggest blunder in his career

Channel: Science Channel

Views: 955,381

Keywords: Space's Deepest Secrets, space science, space travel, space mysteries, theory of relativity, albert einstein, cosmological constant, expanding universe, edwin hubble, gravitational force, science channel

Id: rMjtfAhzgFQ

Length: 2min 50sec (170 seconds)

Published: Fri May 06 2016