The Michigan Daily-Thursday, May 27, 1982-Page 9
PHYSICIST SEES PROBLEM IN EINSTEIN'S WORK
Relativity theory examined again
NEW YORK (AP) - If Henry Hill thought he could
challenge Einstein's Theory of Relativity and not be
taken to task for it, he was mistaken.
The Arizona physicist met yesterday in face-to-face
intellectual combat with Einstein's defenders and
admirably defended his recent discovery of a
possible flaw in Einstein's work.
BUT THE confrontation, held at the New York
Academy of Sciences, opened Hill's old wounds. It
was not the first time that he had been forced to
defend an unpopular point of view.
The scientist has had the misfortune throughout his
career of discovering things that don't match other
scientists' expectations: "I've been a heretic ever
since I've been in grad school," Hill said.
His latest round of skirmishes began April 6 when he
announced to the Royal Astronomical Society in
Dublin, Ireland, that careful observations of the sun
had led him to conclude there is an error in Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity.
SINCE THE theory was announced in 1916,
physicists have tried every measurement and
calculation they could think of to try to prove or
disprove it.
The theory has passed every test and thus has
become one of the most important underpinnings of
modern physics.
One of the theory's triumphs has been its ex-
planation of a slight deviation in the orbit of Mercury,
the planet nearest the sun. The orbit, a giant oval
path around the sun, precesses, or rotates ever so
slightly. Before Einstein, scientists could not say
why.
THE DETAILED calculations of relativity provide
a neat mathematical explanation for the precesion of
Mercury's orbit, but assume that the sun is perfectly
round. If the sun should turn out not to be round, Ein-
stein's theory would be in trouble.
.Hill, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, has
been using a very sensitive telescope just north of
Tucson to measure the diameter of the sun. He has
concluded that the sun is flattened slightly at its north
and south poles.
He wasn't able to actually see the flattening, but he
calculated that it was there by observing and
carefully measuring waves of burning gases
traveling across the sun's surface.
Ronald Hellings of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in California said measurements of Mercury's orbit
are so imprecise that it is impossible to say yet who is
right.
Britain faces
heavy losses;*
2 ships sunk,
24 men killed
(Continued frem Page 4)
the missiles that hit the Atlantic Con-
veyor were believed intended for the
carrier Hermes, flagship of the British
task force, which was close enough to
the merchant ship to see the weapons
strike.
THE SOURCE, who asked not to be
identified, said the Exocets had been
fired at the container ship-which was
serving as a makeshift carrier for ver-
tical-takeoff Harrier warplanes-from
28 miles away. The Harriers had been
removed earlier, Nott said.
A second destroyer, the Broadsword,
accompanying the Coventry, suffered
minor damage with no casualties
reported, the source said.
Nott called the losses-which pushed
the official British death toll in the con-
flict to 98-"tragic." But he said 10
more destroyers and frigates have
joined the armada "in the last two
days."
CORRECION
In the "World According To Garp"
advertisement that ran in the Daily
Tuesday, May 26, the date for the
film was incorrectly printed as May
27, 1952. The film will be shown on
June 1 1982, in Angell Hall. The
Daily apologizes for any incon-
veniences it may have caused.
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For information, Please Call
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isO Garp-
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A GEORGE ROY HILL Film ROBIN WILLIAMS
"THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP" MARY BETH HURT
GLENN CLOSE - JOHN LITHGOW
Executive Producer PATRICK KELLEY Screenplay by STEVE TESICH
Based on the novel by JOHN IRVING Produced by GEORGE ROY HILL
and ROBERT L.CRAWFORD Directed by GEORGE ROY HILL
FROM OSNERSROS
A WARNER COMMUNICATIONO COMPANY 0
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GnIANN(Read the Novel from POCKET BOOKS.
LOCATION: Auditorium A/Angell Hall
Univ. of Michigan/Ann Arbor
DATE: June 1
TIME: 7:00
SPONSOR: Dept. of Communications
Admission isfree to the college community, but seating is limited.
Admittance ison a first-come. first-sed asis.