ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page vi ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page iii Gravity’s Arc The Story of Gravity, from Aristotle to Einstein and Beyond DAVID DARLING John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page i Gravity’s Arc ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page ii Also by David Darling Deep Time Equations of Eternity Soul Search Zen Physics The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology The Complete Book of Spaceflight The Universal Book of Astronomy The Universal Book of Mathematics Teleportation: The Impossible Leap ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page iii Gravity’s Arc The Story of Gravity, from Aristotle to Einstein and Beyond DAVID DARLING John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page iv To Jill, forever Copyright © 2006 by David Darling. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada Design and composition by Navta Associates, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- ing, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Pub- lisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copy- right Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748- 6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or war- ranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a par- ticular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suit- able for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Darling, David. Gravity’s arc : the story of gravity from Aristotle to Einstein and beyond / David Darling. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-471-71989-2 (cloth) ISBN-10 0-471-71989-7 (cloth) 1. Gravitation—History. 2. General relativity (Physics)—History. 3. Physicists—Biography. I. Title. QC178.D373 2006 531'.14—dc22 2005030772 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page v The roots of the Academy of twelve olive groves, millennia later—the olives—Newton’s laws; today, the black olives, dark energy, in a hurry to arrive beyond the barren terrain and isolated tranquility of spacetime. —ANNA KANCHEVA, BULGARIAN POET ffirs.qxd 3/8/06 9:33 AM Page vi ftoc.qxd 3/8/06 9:39 AM Page vii Contents Acknowledgments, ix Prelude: The Weighting Game, 1 1 No Laughing Matter, 7 2 The Path of Dissent, 27 3 The Parabolic Man, 47 4 The Day the Sky Fell, 65 5 Escape from Earth, 91 6 One of Our Planets Is Missing, 121 7 When Gravity Became Geometry, 145 8 Alpha and Omega, 173 9 The Ripples of Space, 191 10 Disturbing News, 207 11 In the Dark, 221 12 All Together Now, 237 13 Engineers of the Continuum, 253 References, 267 Bibliography, 270 Index, 271 vii