Evening star., 1932-03-22
ETNSTEIN AND DE SITTER APPEAR
RECONCILED IN COSMIC CONCEPT
Academy of Sciences Here
Releases Joint Statement
by Two SavantS.
Way Left Open to Abandon
Theory OF Hyper-Dimen-
SionaI Space.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


A joint statement by Profs Albert
! Einstein and Wilhelm De Sitter, in
which they appear to approach an
| agreement about the structure of the
universe and make far-reaching con-
cessions, was issued today through the
National Academy of Sciences here.
In this statement, as it was inter
preted by local physicists, both men
adopted a position which may leave the
way open for abandonment of the con-
cept of hyper -dimensional space and
explanation of cosmic phenomena in
terms of the three -dimensional, Euclid
ian space such as is appreciable to hu-
man sensory perception.
Actually, it appears. they still main
tain the concept Of curved space" as a
reality, but admit that it may be either
positively or negatively curved, that at
present it is impossible to measure the
degree of curvature in either direction
that the curvature may actually be zero,
and that, consequently, space may be
in effect. if not in fact, Euclidian.
Thought Revolutionized.
The hyper-dimensional cosmologies of
Einstein, De Sitter and their followers,
appearing during the past Is years.
brought about a revolution in human
thought. The human organism is ca
pable of sensing only three dimensions,
and all previous concepts of the nature
of things had been framed in these
three They we're length, breadth and
height. But for some time mathema-
ticians had juggled, largely as an in
tellectual recreation, with hypothetical
consideration of other dimensions. But
they ascribed to them no actual reality.
Then came Einstein with the startling
statement that description of the phe-
nomena of the actual universe required
extra dimensions. Astronomical OBJ
seryations seemed to indicate that he
was right. But this hyper -dimensional
hurdle was one which few human minds
were sufficiently agile to cross.
The statement was communicated
from the Mount Wilson Observatory in
California, where the two great mathe-
maticians and astronomers were brought
together this Winter by the Carnegie
Institution of Washington in the hope
that study of recent sensational dis
coveries there would enable them to
reconcile differences on the funda-
mental nature of things which have
created two camps in scientific thought.
Event of First Magnitude.
The Joint statement, which appears
in the monthly proceedings of the Ma
tional Academy, presumably Is the re-
suit of their Winters work together and
its issuance may constitute an event OF
the first magnitude in scientific history.
The two men, each working in the
field Of hyperdimensional mathe-
matics, had arrived at two strikingly
different pictures OF the nature OF Gre
alton.
Einstein's hypothesis was essentially
that of a static universe in curved
space the curvature being along the
| fourth dimension Of time. Under this
theory an imaginary projectile launched
into space and continuing IN straight
line indefinitely without interruption
eventually would return to the place
from which it started.
De Sitter Is the author of the radi-
cally different theory Of the exploding
universe" This pictures all material
objects in creation as moving outward
from a center at terrific spseds. Under
this theory the countless stars, including
lAlC dll0 ITO pAdACIdLy SyoOCuI, lIl4Sit
be likened to flying fragments of an ex-
ploding shell. These bits of celestial
shrapnel create space as they move out
ward, according to the De Sitter theory.
The size of creation continually Is eX-
panding and the density of matter de-
creasing as 1t is distributed through
greater and greater reaches of space.
Rami6cations of this theory however,
have required an even more complicated
curved space" hypothesis than that Of
the Einstein theory itself.
A Strange Phenomenon.
Observations of spiral nebulae,
island universes" millions of light years
distant in space, made during the past
few years at the Mount Wilson Observ-
atory, showed a strange phenomenon.
These enormous aggregations of millions
of stars. each comparable in size to the
vast galactic system of which the sun
and its planets are minute part, were
shown to be moving outward into space
at terrific speeds, which speeds in
creased directly in proportion to the
distance away.
1t was largely because of this mex
plicable phenomenon that Einstein and
De Sitter were brought TO Mount Will
son this Winter to see If they could
reconcile their phenomena to accord
with what actually seemed tc be hap
pening in the distant heavens. Under
the De Sitter theory the increasing
speed outward might be explained as
an illusion. arising because of the
peculiar sort Of space curvature postu-
lated. 1t was difficult to reconcile
with the EinStein concept of poative
curvature.
SO there has taken place during the
Winter months in Pasadena one Of the
greatest conferences Of brains" in his
! tory in an attempt to explain where we
| are and where We are going. The third
| great living cosmologist. the Belgian
| priest lie Maitre, whose exploding uni
verse concept is generally considered
an improvement on that of De Sitter
and is largely accepted by the Dutch
astronomer himself. was unavoidably
missing from this conference.
Postulated Curvature.
When Einstein introduced the cele-
brated general theory OF relativity he
postulated universe OF constant dem
sity with positive curvature of space.
Recent mathematical work the state
| ment issued through the National Aca-
denny states, shows that this positive
curvature is not absolutely necessary
for the equations Of the general rela-
| tivity theory to hold, but that the cur
vature may also be negative or zero:
| There is no direct observational
evidence for the curvature" the state
ment continues, "the only directly OBJ
served data being the mean density
and the expansion, which latter proves
that the actual universe corresponds
to the non-statical case. 1t is, there
fore, clear that from the direct data
Of observation we can derive neither
the sign nor the value of the curva-
ture. and the question arises whether
it is possible to represent the observed
facts without introducing a curvature
at all
Historically the term containing the
! tcnSnnlcoical constant, uas introdlc or