Results From Gravity Probe B

I mentioned earlier about the recent report out of Gravity Probe B that confirms one of the predictions of Einstein's General Relativity. In fact, a commenter questioned the validity of the result when it was announced to the public, rather than "waiting" for the publication of the work. Whatever, considering that the news reports were based on a manuscript that had already been accepted for publication.

Well, here is the paper in full glory, published in Phys. Rev. Lett., no less! A commentary by Clifford Will includes a link for a FREE DOWNLOAD of the paper.

Enjoy!

BTW, especially to those who often thinks that physicists only tries to stick to upholding current understandings, read the last paragraph of Will's article:

Even though it is popular lore that Einstein was right (I even wrote a book on the subject), no such book is ever completely closed in science. As we have seen with the 1998 discovery that the universe is accelerating, measuring an effect contrary to established dogma can open the door to a whole new world of understanding, as well as of mystery. The precession of a gyroscope in the gravitation field of a rotating body had never been measured before GP-B. While the results support Einstein, this didn’t have to be the case. Physicists will never cease testing their basic theories, out of curiosity that new physics could exist beyond the “accepted” picture.

This is very much in-line with what I said earlier. It is also the reason why, for many physicists, not finding the Higgs would be even more exciting than finding it.

So there!

Zz.