Seminar on History and Philosophy of Science

Abstract: It famously took 100 years from Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational radiation to last year's discovery. In this talk, I will address the question why half of that time was spent discussing the questions whether Einstein's early prediction was actually legitimate. I argue that it took that long for General Relativity to mature into a theory that was able to provide the basis for a trustworthy prediction, which leads me to some more general reflections on time needed for true theory change.

This talk was originally scheduled for October 3, 2017.