FEATURE

A

lbert Einstein’s mind reinvented space and time,

foretelling a universe so bizarre and grand that it

has challenged the limits of human imagination.

An idea born in a Swiss patent office that evolved

into a mature theory in Berlin set forth a radical new pic-

ture of the cosmos, rooted in a new, deeper understanding

of gravity. Out was Newton’s idea, which had reigned for

nearly two centuries, of masses that appeared to tug on one

another. Instead, Einstein presented space and time as a

unified fabric distorted by mass and energy. Objects warp

the fabric of spacetime like a weight resting on a trampo-

line, and the fabric’s curvature guides their movements.

With this insight, gravity was explained.

Einstein presented his general theory of relativity at the

end of 1915 in a series of lectures in Berlin. But it wasn’t

until a solar eclipse in 1919 that everyone took notice. His

theory predicted that a massive object — say, the sun — could

Our

Wild

Universe

Einstein’s general theory of relativity unveiled

a dynamic and bizarre cosmos By Elizabeth Quill

16 SCIENCE NEWS | February 13, 2021

CASEY REED/PENN STATE

distort spacetime nearby enough to bend light from its

straight-line course. Distant stars would thus appear not

exactly where expected. Photographs taken during the

eclipse verified that the position shift matched Einstein’s

prediction. “Lights all askew in the heavens; men of science

more or less agog,” declared a New York Times headline.

Even a decade later, a story in Science News Letter, the

predecessor of Science News, wrote of “Riots to understand

Einstein theory” (SN: 2/1/30, p. 79). Apparently extra police

had to be called in to control a crowd of 4,500 who “broke

down iron gates and mauled each other” at the American

Museum of Natural History in New York City to hear an

explanation of general relativity.

By 1931, physicist Albert A. Michelson, the first

American to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences, called the

theory “a revolution in scientific thought unprecedented

in the history of science.”

universe.indd 16universe.indd 16 1/27/21 9:37 AM1/27/21 9:37 AM