Credit: CNES-D. Ducros
Credit: CNES-D. Ducros - The MICROSCOPE mission has confirmed the 'equivalence principle' with unprecedented accuracy, bolstering Einstein's general relativity. The result, announced this month by a team led by the French space agency CNES and including an Imperial College London researcher, is a triumph for Einstein's general relativity. However, it also potentially rules out some candidate universal theories of physics. The result of this seemingly simple experiment hides a subtlety which has bemused scientists for centuries. Professor Timothy Sumner - General relativity is the best theory of gravity - positing that instead of being a 'pulling' force, the action of gravity is caused by large bodies like planets bending spacetime, curving the paths of smaller objects towards them. However, this is not compatible with scientists' best theory of the subatomic world: quantum mechanics.
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