Did Einstein cheat?

It doesn't seem to make any difference to point out to anti-relativists that, second to quantum mechanics, relativity is the most tested theory on the books. In fact in one famous case, as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose pointed out, it meets predictions to an accuracy "to one part in 10¹⁴ (and this accuracy has apparently been limited merely by the accuracy of clocks on Earth)."

This is the famous case of the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar, PSR 1913+16, whose orbital decay met predictions based on the general theory of relativity, to the accuracy quoted above, during a period of 20 years. Both scientists who conducted this long-term experiment, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor, were awarded Nobel prizes in 1993.

And the testing hasn't stopped. None of the physicists I spoke to pretend that relativity is somehow sacrosanct, as cranks complain. Indeed, Smolin, for one, is working on a theory of gravity that will fit seamlessly into quantum mechanics, as is physicist Carlo Rovelli of the University of Pittsburgh and Baez to name just a few. This will require modifying Einstein's theory to a considerable degree. A debate is being carried on about it now, with theories and arguments being put forward through the normal channels of mainstream journals.

As it stands, relativity is essential to quantum physics, as Harvard astrophysicist David Layzer told me. And quantum electrodynamics, which accounts for electromagnetic interactions at the atomic level, is not possible without the special theory of relativity. To say nothing of the other daily confirmations of the theory's consequences provided by atomic accelerators, the GPS and, of course, the equivalence of mass and energy derived from special relativity in Einstein's most famous equation, E=mc².

But this makes no impression on crackpots. They insist it all can be explained with an ether theory or some fiddling with Newton's gravitation. A review of any of these theories (for example, on the sci.physics.relativity newsgroup) always reveals a plethora of special assumptions that must be called upon to get the same results as Einstein. Apparently this is to be preferred at all costs. It is interesting that cranks almost never dispute the accuracy of relativity's predictions; they just insist there must be a "simpler" way.

Whatever motivates the anti-relativity fringe, it certainly isn't science. When Isaac Newton first advanced the idea of space and time as entities existing absolutely and independently of matter, his arch rival, Gottfried Leibnitz, challenged him to prove it. Newton couldn't. His spokesman, the Rev. Samuel Clark, tried to cover for his master with the contention that space and time were absolute in the mind of God. Leibnitz replied that such a statement was scientifically meaningless.

Not to anti-Einstein cranks. They have no trouble hopscotching between philosophy and science whenever it suits them. They remain stubbornly nostalgic for what they believe is a "simpler world," one where space and time are hallowed absolutes. And they are happy to subordinate science at whatever cost to the limits of a mirage.

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