Why did Gravity Probe B website withdraw a diagram?

Question

GP-B website had its update on 6th December with a diagram showing that Einstein geodetic prediction is wrong:

Einstein expectation: -6571 +- 1*
4-gyro result (1 sigma) for 85 days
(12 Dec 04 -- 4 Mar 05) -6632 +- 43

However, GP-B website withdrew the diagram sometime between 7th Dec and 8th Dec and replaced it with one that makes no such claims!

Note that if Einstein is wrong then Big Bang theory is totally wrong too! See http://einstein.stanford.edu

Answer 1

Many people believe that this indicates a political move, not a scientific one. And a predictable one. This is why.

The question is whether or not this experiment is really to test Einstein, or simply to confirm it. Why spend almost a billion dollars to test something that the physics establishment already believes? If you doubt a theory, you need to test it. If this experiment is a "true" experiment, it should have as one of it's possible outcomes that Einstein could be wrong. Otherwise why do the experiment. Either there are people on this project who think Einstein wrong, or they are just doing lip-service to the idea and wasting 1 billion dollars of the tax payer's money.

Most people only study what the establishment says it correct. They don't look at arguments against. The Big Bang is a good example. If you go to many astonomy clubs around the world, many are talking as if the big bang is already dead. Red-shift can be explained in many different ways other than the universe is expanding. But the establishment doesn't look at this even though the "common" scientists do.

Einstein's image and theories have turned into a cult where his icon of genius is bigger than his work. Questioning Einstein is taboo yet this experiment is spending 1 billion dollars to "test" it. This means someone thinks it is worth 1 billion dollars to see if Einstein is right or wrong.

The question is, if the data goes against Einstein, will the authors reveal this? Will they be true to their word? There is great speculation in the dissident physics community that it will be politically impossible for the authors to say the results don't fit Einstein's predictions.

That could be the very reason the diagram wasy pulled. It is not politically correct enough for Stanford, Nasa, and physics in general. They don't want to start a fight and loose their funding and credibility. Sciencetific truth is second to politics.

Will they hide the fact that Einstein's theory is wrong? It is hard to say.

It is important that we look at "wrong" and "right" and not "tweak" or "correct". Theories can be tweaked to fit any data. Tweak it enough, and Einstein is always right. You save face, and don't have the hassle of going against physicists and astonomers around the world who have control of billions of dollars in experiments.

But the rule for this experiment will be like for many others: never, never release the "raw" data to the public for others to interpret. That could show things they don't want to say including "Einstein is wrong".

Answer 2

I am not familiar with the specific numbers that you are referring to. However, in terms of this proving that Einstein was wrong and therefore the Big Bang model is wrong, I would say this:

1. If the website was wrong (not clear that it was) it may have been someone mis-typing it.

2. It may have been a computer numerical error (that never happens!)

3. It may have been whoever is manning the website made an error.

4. It may have been an instrumentation issue on the spacecraft (that also never happens!).

I find these scenarios and about twenty others to be significantly more likely than that Einstein has finally been proved wrong yesterday - 100 years after he published. No offense, I just find it unlikely.

In the same sense, to extrapolate beyond that and deduce that the whole Big Bang model is also wrong is a leap in logic that I am not prepared to take.

The prudent approach is to wait until the data is published - not to speculate on reasons for changes. Let's see what they say when they're finished.

Answer 3

Hi. I did not see the sketch you mention but their website does say that system inaccuracies are being identified and corrected. When Einstein's theory was accepted it did not negate the earlier work of Newton. The Big Bang may or may not have happened. No one knows for certain. But ANY new theory will almost certainly be a refinement of Einstein, not a proof that everything he predicted was wrong.

Answer 4

Right... not.

If you haven't noticed, Gravity Probe B is plagued by a serious experimental problem which has greatly diminished the quality of the data. They are trying to fix it with a-posteriori analysis, but it is highly doubtful they will come close to their original goals.

First of all, you need to understand what you are citing.

A prediction from general relativity does not come with error bars - as a theoretical prediction it is exact. What you are citing is Gravity Probe B prediction for their own experiment when using general relativity.

The experimentally measured numbers, after corrections, would be off by a mere 1.4 sigma. That is not sufficient to rule out general relativity. Not even close. Especially not in an experiment that suffers from enormous non-statistical errors which are still not fully analyzed.

Good luck feeding your own ignorance with your own lack of understanding. You seem to have found very green pastures here.

:-)

Answer 5

They probably found errors in the diagram and corrected them.