|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Jim Farmelant
||
||
|| On Sat, 09 Feb 2002 01:56:15 +0100 Scott MARTENS <sm at kiera.com> writes:
||
|| > Which universal constant did Einstein give up on, and at the behest
|| > of
|| > which Vatican physicist?
||
|| I believe that Hakki was referring to the cosmological constant.
Yep, sorry. The universal constant is c of course. The cosmological constant, which Einstein later called "the biggest blunder of my life", was a repulsive particle force he posited to keep the universe in a steady state. Jesuit Father George Lemaitre from Belgium, who became head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, proposed the big bang theory, and after several difficult meetings with Einstein and other scientists in 1931-35, gradually won their approval.
You guys never heard of Lemaitre? Weird.
Papal endorsement soon followed, as the big bang does not allow any discussion of what happened before it - there is no "before". Leaves lots of room for the Almighty, needless to say. All this is also an interesting exception to Thomas Kuhn's rule that scientists cling to their paradigms until the bitter end.
Hakki