AlbertEinsteinisoftenviewedastheiconofgenius,andhistheoriesareadmiredfortheirbeautyandcorrectness.Yetthefinaljudgeofanytheoryistherigoroustestofexperiment,notthefameofitsinventorortheallureofitsmathematics.Fordecades,generalrelativityhaspassedtestaftertestwithflyingcolors,includingsomeremarkablenewtestsusingtherecentlydetectedgravitationalwaves.Still,therearereasonsfordoubt.Einstein’stheoryofgravity,asbeautifulasitis,seemstobeindirectcontradictionwithanothertheoryhehelpedcreate:quantummechanics.Untilrecently,thiswasconsideredtobeapurelyacademicaffair.Butasmoreandmoredatapourinfromthemostdistantcornersoftheuniverse,hintingatbizarrestuffcalled“darkenergy“and“darkmatter,“somescientistshavebeguntoexplorethepossibilitythatEinstein’stheorymaynotprovideacompletepictureofthecosmos.ThisbookchroniclesthelatestadventuresofscientistsastheyputEinstein’stheorytothetestinevermorepreciseandastonishingways,andinevermoreextremesituations,whengravityisunfathomablyintenseandrapidlychurning.Fromtheexplosionsofneutronstarsandthecollisionsofblackholestothemodernscientificprocessasameanstoseektruthandunderstandinginthecosmos,thisbooktakesthereaderonajourneyoflearninganddiscoverythathasbeen100yearsinthemaking.
