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Even Einstein Doubted His Gravitational Waves (astronomy.com)

Posted by timothy on from the jeane-dixon-approach dept.

Flash Modin writes: In 1936, twenty years after Albert Einstein introduced the concept, the great physicist took another look at his math and came to a surprising conclusion. 'Together with a young collaborator, I arrived at the interesting result that gravitational waves do not exist, though they had been assumed a certainty to the first approximation,' he wrote in a letter to friend Max Born. Interestingly, his research denouncing gravitational waves was rejected by Physical Review Letters, the journal that just published proof of their existence. The story shows that even when Einstein's wrong, it's because he was already right the first time.

6 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Can we stop the Einstein worship now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    This is why I rarely read the comments on /.

  2. Erh... so? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, I fail to see the story here. Scientist ponders problem. Scientist comes to conclusion. Scientist publishes conclusion. Peer review gives it the go. Scientists rethinks problem. Scientist thinks he made a mistake. Peer review looks at new conclusion and thinks first solution was correct. And, lo and behold, it was.

    So the scientific method works, is that what the article should tell us?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Erh... so? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So the scientific method works, is that what the article should tell us?

      Exactly. I'm not sure what the point is here. And TFS's conclusion is just weird: "The story shows that even when Einstein's wrong, it's because he was already right the first time." Actually, if you read TFA, it has a quote from Einstein himself about how he admitted he got things wrong and sometimes his errors had been published.

      The only vaguely interesting aspect to TFA is how Einstein apparently got upset that someone dared to do peer-review on his paper before simply publishing it. Granted, peer-review was not a universal standard in the 1930s (at least not peer-review by external reviewers -- review by expert editorial boards was standard long before that), but Einstein still seems to have reacted quite poorly in this case... refusing to admit he was wrong, and later finding his error and not acknowledging he could have found it had he listened to the reviewer's criticism.

      The lesson here is NOT that Einstein was always right. He was clearly fallible and recognized himself to be so. On the other hand, he also seems to have a tendency (a natural human one) to refuse to acknowledge errors. That's one of the reasons peer review exists, since scientists often -- consciously or unconsciously -- refuse to see errors in their own logic. TFA's lesson actually shows us that even great scientists can be WRONG, but a proper scientific process can help to weed out those errors.

  3. Re: Can we stop the Einstein worship now by Dunbal · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why aren't you rich?

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    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  4. Science by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most great science begins with the words:

    "No, that can't be right. Or can it?"

    Einstein was no different.

  5. Re:Can we stop the Einstein worship now by Alomex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even worse, in my books, is that SR discarding the ether was the single most damaging thing to happen in physics in the last 110 years.

    As best as I understand, Michelson-Morley was responsible for this, with the ether being discarded right away.

    Einstein didn't copy: Science is almost always a collaborative process with people building on top of each other. This is why we often have independent co-discovery. Had Einstein not been there someone else would have obtained SR/GR within 5-10 years, just like Mt. Everest summit would have been reached within a few years of Hillary-Norgay, had they not made it to the top.

    Einstein did little after SR/GR? Yes

    False, he had four major papers after SR/GR:

    - In 1917, Einstein-Brillouin-Keller method for finding the quantum mechanical version of a classical system.
    - In 1918, Einstein developed a general theory of the process by which atoms emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation (his A and B coefficients), which is the basis of lasers (stimulated emission)
    - In 1924, the theory of Bose-Einstein statistics and Bose-Einstein condensates, which form the basis for superfluidity, superconductivity, and other phenomena.
    - In 1935, Einstein put forward what is now known as the EPR paradox

    Lucky people reach the pinnacle once, because they happen to be around at the time of the final assault. Truly bright people summit many times... Einstein had between 3 and 6 discoveries each alone worthy of a Nobel prize.