‘Albert Einstein’ Being Challenged: ‘Speed Of Light’ Is Not Constant At Vacuum And The Theory Will Be Tested Soon

The theory of Albert Einstein's "Speed of light" was a major milestone in the history of science. He proposed that the speed of light is constant in free space. Now, a group of scientists has challenged it by putting a theory contradictory to what Einstein proposed. To verify their findings, the scientists are planning to conduct tests, which is expected to prove their theory.

The theory by Niayesh Afshordi from the University of Waterloo, Canada and João Magueijo from Imperial College London proposes that the light of speed was at infinity during the initial years of the universe by suggesting the cosmic waves speed at the high temperatures during the origin of the universe. The theory submitted by the scientists also proposes a way to test it though it can't effectively prove the findings of the theory challenging Albert Einstein.

Was the speed of light faster in the early universe? #FlashPhysics https://t.co/tPRSxACgWF pic.twitter.com/MvL0j4R9vp

— Physics World (@PhysicsWorld) November 25, 2016

The scientists believe that just after Big Bang explosion, the light at heavy temperature traveled to different areas of the universe at different speeds. It was already proposed that the Big Bang caused the rapid expansion of masses in the universe and it is called as Inflation. It is believed that the light reached each corner of the universe almost uniformly and this can't happen at the uniform speed of light.

The theory proposes that the speed of light during those times were varied according to regions. It is believed that the footprints of these fluctuations would have left in the universe on the radiations came out from Big Bang, generally called as cosmic microwave background radiation. Incidentally, cosmic microwave background radiation has been spotted many times in the satellites and these might help in further studies.

Though the new "Speed of Light" theory won't make too much difference in calculating mass-energy relation or gravity by Albert Einstein's formula considering the speed of light in current days found to be constant. But, the new theory would make the speed of light factor more accurate and helpful in further research; it would also help to study about the origin of the universe.