General theory of relativity: from fundamental science to practical applications

The special and general theory of relativity is oneof the most outstanding achievements of human thought. They were formulated at the beginning of the last century and were parts of a single human breakthrough in understanding the nature of the surrounding world. However, there is a striking difference between them, which is that the first theory, while contradicting the usual notions, was a logical consequence of the generalization of observational facts. The general theory of relativity was the product of a mental experiment. In fact, it was a real intellectual feat of its creator, the German physicist Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein published his work, inwhich was first formulated by the general theory of relativity, in 1915. Like much in modern physics, this theory contradicts our intuitive ideas about the world around us. Ray Dinverno said: "Verily, the intellectual leap that Einstein required from the special theory of relativity to the general is one of the greatest in human history ...". Einstein wrote in a letter to a colleague: "I have never worked with such tension ... Compared with the general theory of relativity, the original theory is a child's play ...".

According to the special theory of relativity,space and time are not independent substances. On the contrary, they are different manifestations of a single space-time. The relationship between time and spatial coordinates is different for reference frames moving with different velocities. This, in particular, leads to the fact that two events that seem to be simultaneous for one observer can occur at different times for another.

However, this theory did not explain the nature of the forcesattraction. This is what the general theory of relativity has done. Its postulates, in addition to the foundations of a special theory, contained the thesis of the inextricable link between matter and space-time. She says that the force of gravity is due to the curvature of space around material objects. In other words, matter indicates space, how to bend, and space tells matter, how to move.

Thus, this theory gives a complete picture in which space-time forms the theater of the existence of matter, and, on the other hand, matter determines its properties.

The general theory of relativity is the cornerstonestone of fundamental science. Despite this, she was awarded the Nobel Prize only in 1993. It was received by astrophysicists Khalz and Taylor for explaining the precession of a double pulsar - a system consisting of two neutron stars. More recently, in 2011, another Nobel Prize was awarded for the contribution of this theory to cosmology and the explanation of the expansion of the universe.

And although its effects are negligible on Earth and innear-Earth space, it has very important practical applications. Most probably, the most important of them are global positioning systems, such as the US GPS and the Russian GLONASS. Without considering the effects of the theory of relativity, these systems would be at least an order of magnitude less accurate. Thus, if you are the owner of a phone with a GPS system, then the general theory of relativity works for you.

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