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Old August 24th 15, 06:51 PM posted to sci.astro
Pentcho Valev
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Default EINSTEIN PERPLEXES EINSTEINIANS

Einstein's variable speed of light "is perfectly valid and makes good physical sense" but nowadays the speed of light in a gravitational field is constant. So constant that "it does not even make any sense to say that it varies":

http://www.desy.de/user/projects/Phy..._of_light.html
Steve Carlip: "Einstein went on to discover a more general theory of relativity which explained gravity in terms of curved spacetime, and he talked about the speed of light changing in this new theory. In the 1920 book "Relativity: the special and general theory" he wrote: "...according to the general theory of relativity, the law of the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo, which constitutes one of the two fundamental assumptions in the special theory of relativity [...] cannot claim any unlimited validity. A curvature of rays of light can only take place when the velocity of propagation of light varies with position." Since Einstein talks of velocity (a vector quantity: speed with direction) rather than speed alone, it is not clear that he meant the speed will change, but the reference to special relativity suggests that he did mean so. This interpretation is perfectly valid and makes good physical sense, but a more modern interpretation is that the speed of light is constant in general relativity. (...) Finally, we come to the conclusion that the speed of light is not only observed to be constant; in the light of well tested theories of physics, it does not even make any sense to say that it varies."

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4010/4...22552b04_z.jpg

Pentcho Valev