5 ms·
The "dark star" hypothesis given a finite speed and momentum of light (particle nature) combining with the escape velocity of stars isn't impressive by itself.
by dav_Oz 5y ago
The "dark star" hypothesis given a finite speed and momentum of light (particle nature) combining with the escape velocity of stars isn't impressive by itself.
But his scientific reasoning and methods very much so.
He carefully conjectured what could be observed e.g. binary stars in amassing data points. Naturally, in a logical progression, he looked for stars which behaved as if they were in a binary systems but the partner i.e. "dark stars" could not been seen because its mass would be so big that the finite speed of light couldn't "escape". Brilliant.
He, also, inherited Cavendish his "torsion balance" apparatus for measuring the mass of the earth for what later became the famous "Cavendish experiment" yielding an accurate measurement of the gravitational constant. The experimental basis for the advancement into the nature of gravity.
Quite impressive.
And he did not yell about it or seemed to care about what nowadays would be called the "impact factor".
His impact was quite of another nature.
- hirundo 5y agos/inherited/bequethed
- groos 5y agos/bequethed/bequeathed :-)
- tomrod 5y agoNot related to the discussion, but I love these verbal dualities. give/take inherit/bequeath and so forth! ------- What fantastic reasoning! I am constantly amazed at the early and current astronomers, able to work out fairly and increasingly accurate cosmological views from pinpoints of light.
- argomo 5y agoGive/take duality is significant in the study of proto-indo/european language. IIRC, some root words took opposite meanings in their descendent languages. Some have gone so far as to speculate that this suggests reciprocality was an important culture expectation around gift-giving in PIE society.
- robocat 5y agoIn New Zealand 'borrow' can be used to mean lend (transitively). 'I will borrow you that book' means I will lend it to you, just to give an example of a word changing to its opposite meaning.
- diroussel 5y agoBorrow is used like this some times in working class England too. But this form is frowned upon in more ‘educated’ circles.
- Misdicorl 5y agoAlso super common in northern Wisconsin
- patrickk 5y agoPerhaps because of the German influence? Anecdotally, today in Germany, it’s really tricky for Germans with a very strong grasp of English to distinguish between ‘borrow’ and ‘lend’.
- verve_rat 5y agoI'm a Kiwi. I've never heard it used like that?
- robocat 5y agoRural South Island. I should have said I don't think it is at all common here. Perhaps it is just locally picked up from some Brits.
- foldingmoney 5y agolikewise.
- jacquesm 5y agoSame in Dutch. 'Ik leen geld van de bank. De bank leent geld aan mij.'
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mach1ne 5y agoThe thing is, academia has always been rather dumb at its main job; analyzing the validity of research. Meaning that, even if the research proves its validity on its own, academia fails to pick it up, preferring to wait for secondary proofs. It takes a certain kind of a person to go against the flow. Einstein certainly did and it sure wasn't a smooth ride. Even in our days, Geoffrey Hinton wasn't allowed to present on deep learning in AI conferences in the early 2000's, even though the exact same theoretical bases existed then as they do now.