Slashdot Mirror
Gravitational Waves May Have Been Detected In 1987
KentuckyFC writes "In 1987, a physicist called Joe Weber claimed to have detected gravitational waves at the same time that other scientists spotted a supernova called SN1987A. His claims were largely ignored because of calculations showing that gravitational waves could not be strong enough to be picked up by Weber's equipment, a set of giant aluminium cylinders designed to vibrate as the waves passed by. But these calculations were based on first order effects in the way spacetime can be distorted. Now a new analysis shows that second order effects can enhance gravitational waves by four orders of magnitude, but only when certain asymmetries are present. It turns out that SN1987A possesses just the right kind of asymmetries to make this enhancement possible because the supernova wasn't entirely spherical. Which means that Weber, who died in 2000, may have been the first to see gravitational waves after all."
It is interesting and inspires hope
Hope? In me it mostly inspires contempt for the 'scientists' involved.
"No, whatever you think you observed, it can't have happened because it isn't consistent with our theory"
Some years later...
"We've found a way to reconcile your observations with our theory - so you can have been right after all!"
The is the exact opposite of what science is supposed to entail. Truly appalling.