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Back Historical perspective on testing the Equivalence Principle

Historical perspective on testing the Equivalence Principle

Publication date: 22 December 2003

Authors: Everitt, C.W.F. et al.

Journal: Advances in Space Research
Volume: 32
Issue: 7
Page: 1297-1300
Year: 2003

Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V.

Few facts in science are more surprising and none has had a longer history than the apparent equivalence of the two kinds of mass in physics, gravitational and inertial. From Galileo and Newton to Eötvös and Einstein, it has been a compelling issue both theoretically and experimentally. Ground-based tests have now a precision of about 1 part in 1012. Even with this extraordinary agreement, there are profound theoretical reasons for carrying the measurements further. Our generation has the unique oppurtunity to make an advance of a factor of a million in testing the Equivalence Principle in space.

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