Even Einstein famously doubted his own gravitational waves theory

Albert Einstein may have predicted the existence of gravitational waves in space-time as part of his ground-breaking theory of general relativity 100 years ago, but he was one of the biggest doubters of his own idea.

He had reversed several times the most far-reaching prediction of his ‘impossible’ theory that he proposed in 1915 and declared 21 years later that gravitational waves were non-existent, according to astronomy.com.

Scientists announced on Thursday they ‘heard’ ripples in the fabric of space and time or ‘gravitational waves’ from the powerful collision of two black holes that sent a shudder through the universe.

The detection has created waves in science.

The ‘Astronomy’ magazine writes: “In 1936, twenty years after he introduced the concept, the great physicist took another look at his math and came to a surprising conclusion.

“Together with a young collaborator, I arrived at the interesting result that gravitational waves do not exist, though they had been assumed a certainty to the first approximation,” he wrote in a letter to his friend Max Born.

Einstein was skeptical about the existence of black holes at all, even though others predicted them based on his theory.

Then, at one point, he had decided to quash his gravitational-wave prediction in a high-profile journal article, says Faye Flam of Bloomberg View.

The Astronomy magazine says Einstein submitted his flip-flop in a paper to the Physical Review Letters titled “Do gravitational waves exist?”

“PRL sent the paper back requesting revisions.”

Einstein, who had never experienced peer-review before, was so enraged that he never published there again, according to an investigative piece in Physics Today back in 2005.

“The reviewer soon poked holes in the math, showing how Einstein’s coordinate system lacked imagination when dealing with pesky singularities.

“He took his paper instead to the Journal of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, a lesser-known science publication.

“But when it did ultimately appear in print, Einstein’s conclusion was completely different. Physics Today managed to piece together the real story from archival documents, showing that the anonymous PRL reviewer, prominent physicist Howard Percy Robertson.”

But before he could reject his gravitational waves in that journal, Robertson indirectly nudged him to change his mind back again, writes Flam of Bloomberg View in a write-up that appeared on newsday.com.

Robertson did this by becoming acquainted with one of Einstein’s assistants, Leopold Infeld.

In hindsight, one could see Robertson’s rejection as a double negative - a negation of Einstein’s doubt that added up to positive support for his original idea, adds Flam. 

Again, credit also goes to Einstein – because he had the wisdom in turning another about-face and concluding that the waves were real.