In 1917, he wrote a famous paper
applying general relativity to the universe as a whole.
When
we apply general relativity to the universe as a whole, one solution naturally describes an expanding cosmos that originated in a fiery big bang.
Not exact matches
«I can at least imagine a more
general theory that encompasses
general relativity and MOND, with MOND
applying in one special case and
general relativity applying for the rest.»
We expect that this will require linking
general relativity and the weird rules of quantum physics as they
apply to the vacuum of empty space.
In my field of cosmology, Einstein demonstrated the same skill in his seminal 1917 paper that first
applied his
general theory of
relativity to understanding the origin and evolution of the universe.
When Albert Einstein first
applied his theory of
general relativity to the universe as a whole, to make the calculations workable, he was forced to assume that one large part looks much like any other large part.
The perplexing forms of dark matter now drive studies of how far
general relativity can be
applied.
When physicists
apply the above considerations to the sun, there are implications for the Theory of
General Relativity.
General relativity explains how the universe can obey physical laws that
apply to any form of motion.
But apart from its use in cosmology,
general relativity was not widely
applied to scientific problems in its first four decades.
But there are bad things in the book — including howlers such as the claim that the
general theory of
relativity was not
applied to cosmoiogy for 50 years after its conception, the bald statement «pounds are a measure of weight, but kilograms are a measure of mass», and the claim that Hawking showed unusual chutzpah in entitling his thesis «Properties of Expanding Universes».
In these regions of space «everyday» physics do not
apply, and Einstein's theory of
general relativity dominates.
In the following Figure, from her entertaining TEDxManchester talk The fascinating physics of everyday life, she shows how the physics of the every day
applies over a huge range of scales (in time and space); bracketed between the exotic worlds of the extremely small (quantum mechanics) and extremely large (
general relativity) which tend to dominate our cultural perceptions of physics today.