Centennial Review of General Relativity

This article gives a systematic review of the theoretical framework, major predictions, experimental evidences of general relativity and its implications to other branches of science. It has been pointed out that, other than the (0,0) component of Einstein’s tensor field equation which reduces to the Newtonian law of gravitation under linear approximation, all other components either lead to divergence, or are in conflict with the fundamental postulation of relativity that no speed should exceed the speed of light, or defies physical interpretation. The review gives a detailed analysis of the three classical evidences of general relativity and has shown that none of these experimental evidences can stand scrutiny. The article also analyzed the two recent experiments (BICEP2 and LIGO) that claimed to have found experimental evidences of gravitational wave and black hole, and demonstrated their fallacies. It has been pointed out that the principle of relativity demands that any viable theory must have translational as well as rotational relativity, which requires general relativity to have a rotational transformation that can transform the Schwarzschild metric into the Kerr metric and vice versa. Calculations show that a general rotational transformation is in conflict with one of the fundamental postulations of relativity—no speed should exceed the speed of light, i.e., general relativity violates the principle of relativity. The article also gives a thorough analysis of one of the most important concept of general relativity—gravity comes from the curvature of space time, and gravity warps the space time. It has been pointed out that the curving of a geodesic is merely the bending of the trajectory of an object moving in gravitational field, which is not the curving of the space time itself. Moreover, the field equation describes the shape of equipotential, the curving of which is not the curving of space time either. The measure of curvature of space time is the Riemann curvature scalar R. Calculations show that the Riemann curvature and Ricii tensor of both the Schwarzschild metric and the Kerr metric—the only two known analytical solutions to Einstein’s field equation, vanish, which means that the space time is flat. The concept that gravity comes from the curvature of space time and gravity warps the space time is invalid. The review concludes that the Newtonian law of gravity is built upon the Keplers laws that represent enormous results of observational astronomy and has stood hundreds of years’ test by scientific research and engineering practice. It is still been checked every day by science and engineering, and has never failed the test. On the other hand, Einstein’s general relativity has a multitude of unsolvable inconsistencies in its fundamental postulations, theoretical framework, experimental tests, and it is completely powerless in practical applications. It is therefore incorrect to say that the Newtonian law of gravitation is only