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Special Relativity: Why Nothing Outruns Light

Special Relativity: Why Nothing Outruns Light

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 1 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: special relativity, Einstein, time dilation, length contraction, speed of light, E=mc² In 1905, a 26-year-old patent clerk published a paper that demolished Newton's framework of absolute space and absolute time. Albert Einstein didn't

The Physics of Space and Time

The Physics of Space and Time

Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: spacetime, relativity, Einstein, gravity, wormholes, time travel, quantum gravity We live in space and time. We move through space. We age through time. These seem like the most basic facts of existence—so obvious they barely need stating. But physics has revealed that space and

Wormholes: Tunnels Through Spacetime

Wormholes: Tunnels Through Spacetime

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 4 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: wormholes, Einstein-Rosen bridge, traversable wormholes, exotic matter, spacetime topology In 1935, Einstein and Nathan Rosen published a paper exploring a peculiar feature of Schwarzschild's black hole solution. The math seemed to show that a black hole

Black Holes: Where Spacetime Breaks

Black Holes: Where Spacetime Breaks

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 3 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: black holes, event horizon, singularity, Schwarzschild, Penrose, Hawking radiation Within months of Einstein publishing general relativity in 1915, Karl Schwarzschild—a German physicist serving on the Russian front in World War I—sent Einstein a letter with an

General Relativity: Gravity Is Geometry

General Relativity: Gravity Is Geometry

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 2 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: general relativity, Einstein, curved spacetime, gravity, geodesics, gravitational lensing In 1907, Albert Einstein had what he later called "the happiest thought of my life." He imagined a person falling freely from a roof. During the fall,

Quantum Gravity: The Unfinished Revolution

Quantum Gravity: The Unfinished Revolution

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 8 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: quantum gravity, string theory, loop quantum gravity, Planck scale, unification Physics has two great theories of the 20th century: general relativity and quantum mechanics. General relativity describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime. It works beautifully for planets,

The Multiverse: Many Worlds or Many Nonsense?

The Multiverse: Many Worlds or Many Nonsense?

Series: Spacetime Physics | Part: 7 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: multiverse, many-worlds interpretation, string theory landscape, testability, scientific methodology Is our universe the only one? The idea of a multiverse—a collection of universes beyond our own—has gone from fringe speculation to mainstream discussion in theoretical physics.