Einstein's Greatest Blunder?... Turns Out He Might Have Been Right After All

October 28, 2012

According to the Big Bang Theory, one-millionth of a second after the explosion, our universe has continued to expand for the last 15 billion years. As you try to wrap your head around that, keep in mind that the universe was also insanely hot (more than a trillion degrees) because all particles in the universe were very high energy.

Scientists reasoned that the expansion would eventually stop, that gravity from all the matter in the universe would cause the universe to eventually pull together and contract. This was against Einstein's idea of a "cosmological constant," which meant some sort of anti-gravity existed in space to keep matter and the universe in order. Einstein called it his biggest blunder.

Now, it appears they were wrong. The expansion of the universe seems to be speeding up; Einstein may be right after all!

If so, don't wait by the phone. One scientist, Brian Schmidt, believes that we may eventually be all alone in the universe with nobody nearby, except the Andromeda Galaxy. If we felt lonely before (which most of us do, astronomically speaking), we are really going to be lonely in the future.

Is our universe running away from us? Watch the NOVA video Runaway Universe in our new Access Video on Demand database to find out!

Linda R.
Boardwalk Branch