Even today, hardly anyone but specialists understands Albert Einstein's greatest achievement, the general theory of relativity. So why, a century later, is Einstein the world’s most famous scientist and a universal byword for genius?
LONDON – Albert Einstein announced his greatest achievement, the general theory of relativity, in Berlin a century ago, on November 25, 1915. For many years, hardly any physicist could understand it. But, since the 1960s, following decades of controversy, most cosmologists have regarded general relativity as the best available explanation, if not the complete description, of the observed structure of the universe, including black holes.
LONDON – Albert Einstein announced his greatest achievement, the general theory of relativity, in Berlin a century ago, on November 25, 1915. For many years, hardly any physicist could understand it. But, since the 1960s, following decades of controversy, most cosmologists have regarded general relativity as the best available explanation, if not the complete description, of the observed structure of the universe, including black holes.