The NY times recently did a piece about an interesting paradox that physicists have discovered. It’s pretty fascinating if you are interested in the subject but at several points the article frames the issue as something which shows that “This time…Einstein might really be wrong”. Additionally a couple of other news pieces I’ve seen or heard referencing the piece also framed things in this way.

I have a couple of problems with this. First off, while the general theory of relativity has held up very well, physicists have already come to the agreement that it isn’t a complete picture of how gravity works. Specifically, Einstein believed that any eventual grand unified theory (which would include gravity) would work in the same deterministic way that general relativity did, while other physicists felt that quantum mechanics (with it’s random elements which Einstein disliked) really showed the way to such a theory. The consensus has since come down that Einstein was wrong on this issue, though Einstein never conceded and even worked until his death trying to come up with a deterministic grand unified theory. So saying Einstein may be wrong!!!!! is kind of strange way of framing things because we already know he was wrong about some things. The real question should be, is there something wrong with our understanding of general relativity. I know we generally pair relativity with Einstein because he did come up with the theory by himself but it’s actually a mistake to conflate the theory with the man.

Furthermore, the significance of this paradox isn’t just that it may show there is a problem with relativity. The significance is that it seems to show there is some problem with at least one of the major models that physicist use to understand the universe. If we found that the problem is in our understanding of quantum theory it would be just as significant as it would be if the problem was in our understanding of relativity. The way the article frames the issue makes general relativity seem to be the most important theory ever, where it is more accurate to describe it as an important part in our body of knowledge.

FInally, it’s worth pointing out that while Einstein has become our icon for the science genius, part of this is really just a celebrity effect. Not to say that he wasn’t one of the brightest stars of the scientific world, but there are other scientists who’s stars do shine as bright as his. It’s a mistake to think he stands above all other scientists in intellectual prowess (the majority other scientists yes, but not all of them). I don’t know if it was his iconoclastic nature or his awesome hair, but he has obtained the kind of status in many peoples minds that, while not undeserved as an individual, I would say is undeserved at the exclusion of a number of other scientific greats. I guess what I’m saying is that, it’s not quite so big a deal that physicists may have found that Einstein might have been wrong about something that this should be the first line of an article on the topic.