A Chinese astronomer from the University of St Andrews has
fine-tuned Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of gravity, creating a
’simple’ theory which could solve a dark mystery that has baffled
astrophysicists for three-quarters of a century.
A new law for gravity, developed by Dr Hong Sheng Zhao and his
Belgian collaborator Dr Benoit Famaey of the Free University of
Brussels (ULB), aims to prove whether Einstein’s theory was in fact
correct and whether the astronomical mystery of Dark Matter
actually exists. Their research was published on February 10th in
the US-based Astrophysical Journal Letters. Their formula
suggests that gravity drops less sharply with distance as in
Einstein, and changes subtly from solar systems to galaxies and to
the universe.
Theories of the physics of gravity were first developed by Isaac
Newton in 1687 and refined by Albert Einstein’s general theory of
relativity in 1905 to allow light bending. While it is the
earliest-known force, gravity is still very much a mystery with
theories still unconfirmed by astronomical observations in
space.
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