Stories of a Certain Gravity

Abstract

Before delving into gravitational waves, I illustrate, with nine short stories, the fascinating history of gravity, shedding light on the actual lives and contributions of leading scientists and astronomers, from Tycho Brahe’s adventurous life and grotesque death, to Johannes Kepler’s intuitions and passionate prose. And from Newton’s resolution to cut the Gordian knot of the origin of gravity with his theory of universal gravitation, to Einstein’s heroic struggle to derive the equations of general relativity. Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces in nature, yet it subjugates us from the moment we are born. After nine months floating in the womb, suspended in the enveloping heat of the amniotic fluid, we are suddenly confronted with the gravitational pull of our planet. Gravity thus manifests itself as weight, and forces our helpless bodies to the ground, establishing a universal and defining aspect of the human condition.