Isaac Newton is widely considered the greatest scientists of all time and he gained this top spot for his theories surrounding gravity. However, a new study conducted by Andrea Ghez, a professor at the University of California has suggested that Newton's law of gravity may be wrong.
During the research, scientists tested the general relativity near the monstrous black hole at the centre of our galaxy and found that Einstein's theory of general relativity holds up, but Newton's law of gravity can be completely ruled out.
"Einstein's right, at least for now. We can absolutely rule out Newton's law of gravity. Our observations are consistent with Einstein's theory of general relativity. However, his theory is definitely showing vulnerability. It cannot fully explain gravity inside a black hole, and at some point, we will need to move beyond Einstein's theory to a more comprehensive theory of gravity that explains what a black hole is," said Professor Ghez, Express.co.uk reports.
During the study, researchers studied a star named SO-2 that orbits a supermassive black hole located at the centre of our galaxy. The star's full orbit around the black hole that usually takes 16 years has allowed scientists to conduct tests of general relativity, which ultimately led to the fall of Newton's theory.
Ghez also added that laws of physics that include laws of gravity should be valid everywhere in the universe. As per Newton's law of gravity, every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres.
As Newton's theory has been found not universal in nature, experts believe that Einstein's theory of relativity may also face a similar fate in the coming years, as modern science continuously broadens its horizons.
