I am back. This post is, however, not about me - but about something that may change the very pillars of how we view the universe.
Internet is going wild. A shocking finding appeared on Forbes 13 minutes ago, Reuters an hour ago, and on another major news source 13 seconds ago. Articles are multiplying as I type.
CERN, the infamous large hadron collider, produced some unexpected results. Neutrinos (tiny particles with many puzzling properties) which were fired by the collider into the receptors 750km away, have arrived at the speed faster than the speed of light.
The difference in speed has been subtle. But it has been formulated by Einstein that the speed of light is constant and nothing in the Universe can travel faster than light. Physics has since then relied on this concept to explain matter, mass, the Universe - everything! The results published today override E = MC^2. Time travel is now no longer science fiction. Our whole understanding of nature is under question.
"Einstein's special relativity theory that says energy equals mass times the speed of light squared underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics," said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. "It has worked perfectly until now."
Scientists are being cautious and many follow up tests will be conducted to measure the accuracy of results. But if it holds true then this is not just another finding. It is a revolution.
What an interesting time to be a physicist.
No comments:
Post a Comment