Thanks, Albert

MOST scientific findings are sedimentary, slowly building upon the edifice of understanding. Rare is the idea that marks a fundamental change to a system of thought, forcing the rest of science to bend to its own vision. However, on November 25th 1915 Albert Einstein published a theory that did just that. The ten equations of his general theory of relativity set out a new concept of gravity—not as its own, independent force, but as the warping of the fabric of space and time in the presence of mass (see ).In the intervening century, Einstein himself has become a byword for cartoonish genius. His theory, however, is cherished less than it should be. That is partly because of its complexity; general relativity survived some trying experimental tests early on, but few scientists focused on it—in large part because its equations were so damnably hard to solve. And when the theory did take firm hold, it swiftly became so ubiquitous in describing astronomical goings-on that it began to be taken for granted. As a result, relativity’s revelations are less widely appreciated than the ideas of Charles Darwin, or even Einstein’s predecessor in gravitational thought, Isaac Newton.