Albert Einstein proposed the cosmological constant and insisted that the universe was static, dismissing the opinions of other scientists .
Scientist Albert Einstein in 1947. Photo: Wikimedia
Albert Einstein was a great scientist, but he made mistakes like everyone else. For him, his biggest scientific mistake was "wanting the universe to stand still." This view once motivated Einstein to revise his equations, but he was wrong to revise them, IFL Science reported on June 16.
In 1915, Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which went far beyond the limits of special relativity. It became a comprehensive theory of gravity, explaining not only this universe but also very different universes. However, in the description of gravity that he wrote for our universe, he noticed a problem.
Einstein and most scientists of the time believed that the universe was static: it had always been the same and had never changed, at least on a large scale. The Milky Way had always been the same and would never change.
But when you add numbers to the equation to make the Milky Way last forever, something strange happens. Everything ends up at the same point, collapsing into a black hole (which also emerged from the equations, but was not yet observable). The Milky Way is not collapsing, so to resolve the philosophical conflict, Einstein added a parameter to the equation: the cosmological constant.
The cosmological constant has no observational support other than the fact that things are not collapsing to a point. However, it is not unheard of in physics to suggest that something exists before it is observed.
When creating a physical parameter associated with something that may not exist, the author should probably be open to suggestions and corrections. However, Einstein was quite sensitive when it came to being questioned. He criticized and repeatedly insulted scientists when they pointed out that Einstein's own theories and observations began to contradict the cosmological constant. Within two decades, the consensus view had become so overwhelming that Einstein decided to abandon the cosmological constant, calling it his "biggest mistake."
But the story doesn’t end there. In 1998, astronomers discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The invisible and mysterious driving force is called dark energy. And the best way to describe it right now in the equations of general relativity is a cosmological constant. Although it’s different from the parameter Einstein proposed, it’s still a cosmological constant. Scientists may find that dark energy isn’t what they thought it was, and the equations may change again, but the mistakes will open the door to space exploration .
Thu Thao (According to IFL Science )
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