Checking Einstein

One of the pillars of our understanding of the universe is Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. After nearly a century of testing, both mathematically and experimentally, it holds up.

Some of the most recent tests were done with NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Scientists have used the probe's Large Area Telescope to detect and study gamma rays, incredily powerful bursts of energy from the deep past. In every case so far studied, the behavior of the bursts are in accord with Einstein's predicted behavior. His basic tenet that no natural phenomenon can travel faster than light remains inviolate.

In millenia to come-- or later today-- it might turn out that Einstein's work only points the way to some larger, deeper truths that underlie a universe that gave rise to intelligence capable of understanding the cosmos. Even if that eventuality comes to pass, however, it's clear that one man working alone got an awful lot right.