General Relativity Quotes

When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter.

Albert Einstein

Science, Space, Matter

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Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.

Stephen Hawking

Travel, Space, Rockets

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In the context of general relativity, space almost is a substance. It can bend and twist and stretch, and probably the best way to think about space is to just kind of imagine a big piece of rubber that you can pull and twist and bend.

Alan Guth

Thinking, Space, Twists

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[Max Planck] was one of the finest people I have ever known... but he really didn't understand physics, [because] during the eclipse of 1919 he stayed up all night to see if it would confirm the bending of light by the gravitational field. If he had really understood [general relativity], he would have gone to bed the way I did

Albert Einstein

Night, Light, People

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Einstein was searching for String Theory. It not only reconciles General Relativity to Quantum Mechanics, but it reconciles Science and the Bible as well.

Roy H. Williams

Science, Economy, Mechanic

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General relativity is the cornerstone of cosmology and astrophysics. It has also provided the conceptual basis for string theory and other attempts to unify all the forces of nature in terms of geometrical structures.

Paul Davies

Structure, Strings, Force

" Einstein, the first spin doctor" by Paul Davies, www.theguardian.com. April 9, 2004.

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However we select from nature a complex [of phenomena] using the criterion of simplicity, in no case will its theoretical treatment turn out to be forever appropriate (sufficient).... I do not doubt that the day will come when [general relativity], too, will have to yield to another one, for reasons which at present we do not yet surmise. I believe that this process of deepening theory has no limits.

Albert Einstein

Believe, Yield, Simplicity

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Most of what Einstein said and did has no direct impact on what anybody reads in the Bible. Special relativity, his work in quantum mechanics, nobody even knows or cares. Where Einstein really affects the Bible is the fact that general relativity is the organizing principle for the Big Bang.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Impact, Special, Bangs

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Evidence in support of general relativity came quickly. Astronomers had long known that Mercury’s orbital motion around the sun deviated slightly from what Newton’s mathematics predicted. In 1915, Einstein used his new equations to recalculate Mercury’s trajectory and was able to explain the discrepancy, a realization he later described to his colleague Adrian Fokker as so thrilling that for some hours it gave him heart palpitations.

Brian Greene

Heart, Long, Support

Brian Greene (2011). “The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos”, p.16, Vintage

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In Einstein's general relativity the structure of space can change but not its topology. Topology is the property of something that doesn't change when you bend it or stretch it as long as you don't break anything.

Edward Witten

Change, Space, Long

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In quantum mechanics there is A causing B. The equations do not stand outside that usual paradigm of physics. The real issue is that the kinds of things you predict in quantum mechanics are different from the kinds of things you predict using general relativity. Quantum mechanics, that big, new, spectacular remarkable idea is that you only predict probabilities, the likelihood of one outcome or another. That's the new idea.

Brian Greene

Real, Ideas, Issues

"Professor Brian Greene answers everything you wanted to know about string theory and the multiverse". "Lateline", www.abc.net.au. February 26, 2016.

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[John Wheeler] rejuvenated general relativity; he made it an experimental subject and took it away from the mathematicians

Freeman Dyson

Made, Mathematician, Subjects

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Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity are both accepted as scientific fact even though they're mutually exclusive. Albert Einstein spent the second half of his life searching for a unifying truth that would reconcile the two.

Roy H. Williams

Truth, Two, Half

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Relativity propped it up, at least gave it the illusion of being there…the way all reality becomes illusory and observer-oriented when you study general relativity. Or Buddhism. Or get drafted.

Joe Haldeman

Buddhism, Reality, Way

Joe Haldeman (2014). “The Forever War”, p.38, Open Road Media

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General relativity is in the old Newtonian framework where you predict what will happen, not the probability of what will happen. And putting together the probabilities of quantum mechanics with the certainty of general relativity, that's been the big challenge and that's why we have been excited about string theory, as it's one of the only approaches that can put it together.

Brian Greene

Challenges, Together, Excited

"Professor Brian Greene answers everything you wanted to know about string theory and the multiverse". www.abc.net.au. February 26, 2016.

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No matter how hard you try to teach your cat general relativity, you're going to fail.

Brian Greene

Cat, Trying, Matter

NOVA interview, www.pbs.org. October 28, 2003.

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String theory is the most developed theory with the capacity to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics in a consistent manner. I do believe the universe is consistent, and therefore I do believe that general relativity and quantum mechanics should be put together in a manner that makes sense.

Brian Greene

Believe, Together, Mechanic

NOVA interview, www.pbs.org. October 28, 2003.

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Einstein's theory of General Relativity has a mathematical structure very similar to Yang-Mills theory.

Chen-Ning Yang

Yang, Structure, Mills

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Combining quantum entanglement with wormholes yields mind boggling results about black holes. But I don't trust them until we have a theory of everything which can combine quantum effects with general relativity. i.e. we need to have a full blown string theory resolve this sticky question.

Michio Kaku

Yield, Mind, Black

Reddit AMA, www.reddit.com. March 7, 2014.

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When general relativity was first put forward in 1915, the math was very unfamiliar to most physicists. Now we teach general relativity to advanced high school students.

Brian Greene

School, Math, Firsts

"Sunday Q&A: Physicist seeks truth about cosmos". Interview With Eric Berger, www.chron.com. September 27, 2009.

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Einstein, my upset stomach hates your theory [of General Relativity]—it almost hates you yourself! How am I to' provide for my students? What am I to answer to the philosophers?!!

Paul Ehrenfest

Hate, Upset Stomach, Answers

Letter to Albert Einstein, November 24, 1919.

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Gravitational waves will bring us exquisitely accurate maps of black holes - maps of their space-time. Those maps will make it crystal clear whether or not what were dealing with are black holes as described by general relativity.

Kip Thorne

Space, Black, Maps

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Human rights are an aspect of natural law, a consequence of the way the universe works, as solid and as real as photons or the concept of pi. The idea of self- ownership is the equivalent of Pythagoras' theorem, of evolution by natural selection, of general relativity, and of quantum theory. Before humankind discovered any of these, it suffered, to varying degrees, in misery and ignorance.

L. Neil Smith

Real, Ignorance, Self

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An extrapolation of its present rate of growth reveals that in the not too distant future Physical Review will fill bookshelves at a speed exceeding that of light. This is not forbidden by general relativity since no information is being conveyed.

David Mermin

Light, Growth, Information

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I always found it satisfying that gravity was described by Einstein's geometric theory of general relativity.

Antony Garrett Lisi

Gravity, Found, Theory

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