144-436: Anti-gravity (also known as non-gravitational field ) is a hypothetical phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity . It does not refer to either the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit , or to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism or aerodynamic lift . Anti-gravity is a recurring concept in science fiction. Examples are
288-546: A $ 179.7 billion budget and is the second largest service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, with 321,848 active duty airmen , 147,879 civilian personnel, 68,927 reserve airmen, 105,104 Air National Guard airmen, and approximately 65,000 Civil Air Patrol auxiliarists . According to the National Security Act of 1947 (61 Stat . 502), which created the USAF: Section 9062 of Title 10 US Code defines
432-459: A 2004 paper. They have found that no thrust could be observed in a vacuum and that Brown's and other ion lifter devices produce thrust along their axis regardless of the direction of gravity consistent with electrohydrodynamic effects. In 1992, the Russian researcher Eugene Podkletnov claimed to have discovered, whilst experimenting with superconductors , that a fast rotating superconductor reduces
576-561: A Miss Li appeared in Popular Mechanics , claiming to have constructed a working prototype to generate what she described as "AC Gravity." No further evidence of this prototype has been offered. Douglas Torr and Timir Datta were involved in the development of a "gravity generator" at the University of South Carolina . According to a leaked document from the Office of Technology Transfer at
720-426: A broader dimension of time or space than do tactics; they provide the means by which tactical successes are exploited to achieve strategic and operational objectives. Tactical Level Command and Control is where individual battles and engagements are fought. The tactical level of war deals with how forces are employed, and the specifics of how engagements are conducted and targets attacked. The goal of tactical level C2
864-438: A cleanup plan for drinking water around Tucson, Arizona after the region's groundwater was contaminated by PFAS runoff from nearby Air Force bases. The United States Air Force has been involved in many wars, conflicts and operations using military air operations. The USAF possesses the lineage and heritage of its predecessor organizations, which played a pivotal role in U.S. military operations since 1907: In addition since
1008-452: A commander in planning, directing, coordinating, and controlling forces and operations in the accomplishment of the mission" (JP 1-02). This core function includes all of the C2-related capabilities and activities associated with air, cyberspace, nuclear, and agile combat support operations to achieve strategic, operational, and tactical objectives. At the strategic level command and control,
1152-407: A complete understanding and description of gravity and its interactions with other physical theories, such as general relativity and quantum mechanics ; however, no quantum theory of gravity has yet been found. During the summer of 1666, Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from the tree in his garden, thus realizing the principle of universal gravitation . Albert Einstein in 1915 considered
1296-450: A device a "gravitator". Brown made the claim to observers and in the media that his experiments were showing anti-gravity effects. Brown would continue his work and produced a series of high-voltage devices in the following years in attempts to sell his ideas to aircraft companies and the military. He coined the names Biefeld–Brown effect and electrogravitics in conjunction with his devices. Brown tested his asymmetrical capacitor devices in
1440-622: A falling object is proportional to the square of the time elapsed. This was later confirmed by Italian scientists Jesuits Grimaldi and Riccioli between 1640 and 1650. They also calculated the magnitude of the Earth's gravity by measuring the oscillations of a pendulum. In 1657, Robert Hooke published his Micrographia , in which he hypothesised that the Moon must have its own gravity. In 1666, he added two further principles: that all bodies move in straight lines until deflected by some force and that
1584-625: A flying boat that uses an "apergent"—a rare metal called "radlum"—to produce controlled apergic force, allowing the vessel to ascend and descend. The inventor describes apergy as "a force obtained by blending positive and negative electricity with ultheic, the third element or state of electric energy" and calls apergy a "second phase of gravity," hinting at a third phase as well. S. P. Meek 's short story "Cold Light," which appeared in March 1930 in Astounding Stories of Super-Science , mentions apergy as
SECTION 10
#17328758334341728-429: A force applied to an object would cause it to deviate from a geodesic. For instance, people standing on the surface of the Earth are prevented from following a geodesic path because the mechanical resistance of the Earth exerts an upward force on them. This explains why moving along the geodesics in spacetime is considered inertial. Einstein's description of gravity was quickly accepted by the majority of physicists, as it
1872-894: A force multiplier. It allows air assets to more rapidly reach any trouble spot around the world with less dependence on forward staging bases or overflight/landing clearances. Air refueling significantly expands the options available to a commander by increasing the range, payload, persistence, and flexibility of receiver aircraft. Aeromedical evacuation is "the movement of patients under medical supervision to and between medical treatment facilities by air transportation" (JP 1-02). JP 4-02, Health Service Support, further defines it as "the fixed wing movement of regulated casualties to and between medical treatment facilities, using organic and/or contracted mobility airframes, with aircrew trained explicitly for this mission." Aeromedical evacuation forces can operate as far forward as fixed-wing aircraft are able to conduct airland operations. Global precision attack
2016-466: A force, the ancient Greek philosopher Archimedes discovered the center of gravity of a triangle. He postulated that if two equal weights did not have the same center of gravity, the center of gravity of the two weights together would be in the middle of the line that joins their centers of gravity. Two centuries later, the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius contended in his De architectura that gravity
2160-399: A groundbreaking book called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ( Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy ). In this book, Newton described gravitation as a universal force, and claimed that "the forces which keep the planets in their orbs must [be] reciprocally as the squares of their distances from the centers about which they revolve." This statement was later condensed into
2304-455: A material made up largely of elements with a total half-integer nuclear spin. He claimed that by rapidly rotating a disk of such material, the nuclear spin became aligned, and as a result created a "gravitomagnetic" field in a fashion similar to the magnetic field created by the Barnett effect . No independent testing or public demonstration of these devices is known. In 1989, it was reported that
2448-520: A nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. The Air Force maintains and presents credible deterrent capabilities through successful visible demonstrations and exercises that assure allies, dissuade proliferation, deter potential adversaries from actions that threaten US national security or the populations, and deploy military forces of the US, its allies, and friends. Nuclear strike is the ability of nuclear forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which
2592-451: A new approach to quantum mechanics) is required. Testing the predictions of general relativity has historically been difficult, because they are almost identical to the predictions of Newtonian gravity for small energies and masses. Still, since its development, an ongoing series of experimental results have provided support for the theory: In 1919, the British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington
2736-484: A paper at the AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 24th Joint Propulsion Conference that proposed a Bondi negative gravitational mass propulsion system. Bondi pointed out that a negative mass will fall toward (and not away from) "normal" matter, since although the gravitational force is repulsive, the negative mass (according to Newton's law, F=ma) responds by accelerating in the opposite of the direction of the force. Normal mass, on
2880-508: A particle, the graviton , that carried gravity in the same way that photons (light) carry electromagnetism. Simple attempts along this direction all failed, however, leading to more complex examples that attempted to account for these problems. Two of these, supersymmetry and the relativity related supergravity , both required the existence of an extremely weak "fifth force" carried by a graviphoton , which coupled together several "loose ends" in quantum field theory, in an organized manner. As
3024-405: A precondition" (Annex 3–70, Strategic Attack). Air Interdiction is defined as "air operations conducted to divert, disrupt, delay, or destroy the enemy's military potential before it can be brought to bear effectively against friendly forces, or to otherwise achieve JFC objectives. Air Interdiction is conducted at such distance from friendly forces that detailed integration of each air mission with
SECTION 20
#17328758334343168-483: A rapid cessation of hostilities. Post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. The Air Force may present a credible force posture in either the Continental United States , within a theater of operations, or both to effectively deter the range of potential adversaries envisioned in the 21st century. This requires the ability to engage targets globally using
3312-483: A repulsive gravitational field. In particular, Sir Hermann Bondi proposed in 1957 that negative gravitational mass, combined with negative inertial mass, would comply with the strong equivalence principle of general relativity theory and the Newtonian laws of conservation of linear momentum and energy. Bondi's proof yielded singularity-free solutions for the relativity equations. In July 1988, Robert L. Forward presented
3456-747: A sharp reduction in flight hours for crew training since 2005 and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel directing Airmen's Time Assessments. On 5 June 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accepted the resignations of both the Secretary of the Air Force , Michael Wynne , and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force , General T. Michael Moseley . In his decision to fire both men Gates cited "systemic issues associated with... declining Air Force nuclear mission focus and performance". Left unmentioned by Gates
3600-429: A side effect, both theories also all but required that antimatter be affected by this fifth force in a way similar to anti-gravity, dictating repulsion away from mass. Several experiments were carried out in the 1990s to measure this effect, but none yielded positive results. In 2013 CERN looked for an antigravity effect in an experiment designed to study the energy levels within antihydrogen. The antigravity measurement
3744-429: A simple motion, will continue to move in a straight line, unless continually deflected from it by some extraneous force, causing them to describe a circle, an ellipse, or some other curve. 3. That this attraction is so much the greater as the bodies are nearer. As to the proportion in which those forces diminish by an increase of distance, I own I have not discovered it.... Hooke's 1674 Gresham lecture, An Attempt to prove
3888-448: A strong focus on the improvement of Basic Military Training (BMT) for enlisted personnel. While the intense training has become longer, it also has shifted to include a deployment phase. This deployment phase, now called the BEAST, places the trainees in a simulated combat environment that they may experience once they deploy. While the trainees do tackle the massive obstacle courses along with
4032-488: A sufficiently large and compact object. General relativity states that gravity acts on light and matter equally, meaning that a sufficiently massive object could warp light around it and create a gravitational lens . This phenomenon was first confirmed by observation in 1979 using the 2.1 meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, which saw two mirror images of the same quasar whose light had been bent around
4176-526: A theory of general relativity which was able to accurately model Mercury's orbit. In general relativity, the effects of gravitation are ascribed to spacetime curvature instead of a force. Einstein began to toy with this idea in the form of the equivalence principle , a discovery which he later described as "the happiest thought of my life." In this theory, free fall is considered to be equivalent to inertial motion, meaning that free-falling inertial objects are accelerated relative to non-inertial observers on
4320-405: A theory of gravity consistent with quantum mechanics , a quantum gravity theory, which would allow gravity to be united in a common mathematical framework (a theory of everything ) with the other three fundamental interactions of physics. Gravitation , also known as gravitational attraction, is the mutual attraction between all masses in the universe. Gravity is the gravitational attraction at
4464-412: A tower. In the late 16th century, Galileo Galilei 's careful measurements of balls rolling down inclines allowed him to firmly establish that gravitational acceleration is the same for all objects. Galileo postulated that air resistance is the reason that objects with a low density and high surface area fall more slowly in an atmosphere. In 1604, Galileo correctly hypothesized that the distance of
Anti-gravity - Misplaced Pages Continue
4608-412: A vacuum, supposedly showing it was not a more down-to-earth electrohydrodynamic effect generated by high voltage ion flow in air. Electrogravitics is a popular topic in ufology , anti-gravity, free energy , with government conspiracy theorists and related websites, in books and publications with claims that the technology became highly classified in the early 1960s and that it is used to power UFOs and
4752-510: A variety of methods; therefore, the Air Force should possess the ability to induct, train, assign, educate and exercise individuals and units to rapidly and effectively execute missions that support US NDO objectives. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of nuclear operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations. Because of their political and military importance, destructive power, and
4896-552: A weight decreases along the axis of a right spinning gyroscope. A test of this claim a year later yielded null results. A recommendation was made to conduct further tests at a 1999 AIP conference. In 1921, while still in high school , Thomas Townsend Brown found that a high-voltage Coolidge tube seemed to change mass depending on its orientation on a balance scale. Through the 1920s Brown developed this into devices that combined high voltages with materials with high dielectric constants (essentially large capacitors ); he called such
5040-455: Is "the acquisition of information and the provision of this information to processing elements" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to obtain required information to satisfy intelligence needs (via use of sources and methods in all domains). Collection activities span the Range of Military Operations (ROMO). Processing and exploitation is "the conversion of collected information into forms suitable to
5184-417: Is "the employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy" (JP 1-02). It includes both ballistic missile defense and airborne threat defense and encompasses point defense, area defense, and high-value airborne asset defense. Passive defense is "measures taken to reduce the probability of and to minimize the effects of damage caused by hostile action without
5328-563: Is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force , one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense . The Air Force through the Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force , who reports to the Secretary of Defense and is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation . The highest-ranking military officer in
5472-425: Is defined as "all the defensive measures designed to detect, identify, intercept, and destroy or negate enemy forces attempting to penetrate or attack through friendly airspace" (JP 1-02). In concert with OCA operations, a major goal of DCA operations is to provide an area from which forces can operate, secure from air and missile threats. The DCA mission comprises both active and passive defense measures. Active defense
5616-534: Is defined as "offensive operations to destroy, disrupt, or neutralize enemy aircraft, missiles, launch platforms, and their supporting structures and systems both before and after launch, but as close to their source as possible" (JP 1-02). OCA is the preferred method of countering air and missile threats since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source and typically enjoys the initiative. OCA comprises attack operations, sweep, escort, and suppression/destruction of enemy air defense. Defensive Counter-Air (DCA)
5760-458: Is especially vexing to physicists because the other three fundamental forces (strong force, weak force and electromagnetism) were reconciled with a quantum framework decades ago. As a result, modern researchers have begun to search for a theory that could unite both gravity and quantum mechanics under a more general framework. One path is to describe gravity in the framework of quantum field theory , which has been successful to accurately describe
5904-821: Is known that there were serious efforts underway at the Glenn L. Martin Company , who formed the Research Institute for Advanced Study. Major newspapers announced the contract that had been made between theoretical physicist Burkhard Heim and the Glenn L. Martin Company. Another effort in the private sector to master understanding of gravitation was the creation of the Institute for Field Physics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1956, by Gravity Research Foundation trustee Agnew H. Bahnson . Military support for anti-gravity projects
Anti-gravity - Misplaced Pages Continue
6048-409: Is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity , proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915, which describes gravity not as a force, but as the curvature of spacetime , caused by the uneven distribution of mass, and causing masses to move along geodesic lines. The most extreme example of this curvature of spacetime is a black hole , from which nothing—not even light—can escape once past
6192-596: Is not a force but the result of the geometry of spacetime. Under general relativity, anti-gravity is impossible except under contrived circumstances. In 1948 businessman Roger Babson (founder of Babson College ) formed the Gravity Research Foundation to study ways to reduce the effects of gravity. Their efforts were initially somewhat " crankish ", but they held occasional conferences that drew such people as Clarence Birdseye , known for his frozen-food products, and helicopter pioneer Igor Sikorsky . Over time
6336-530: Is not dependent on a substance's weight but rather on its "nature". In the 6th century CE, the Byzantine Alexandrian scholar John Philoponus proposed the theory of impetus, which modifies Aristotle's theory that "continuation of motion depends on continued action of a force" by incorporating a causative force that diminishes over time. In 628 CE, the Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta proposed
6480-451: Is often expressed in the form G μ ν + Λ g μ ν = κ T μ ν , {\displaystyle G_{\mu \nu }+\Lambda g_{\mu \nu }=\kappa T_{\mu \nu },} where G μν is the Einstein tensor , g μν is the metric tensor , T μν is the stress–energy tensor , Λ
6624-899: Is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States . Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps , the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947 . It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence . The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy , global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance , rapid global mobility , global strike , and command and control . The United States Air Force
6768-446: Is ostensibly known – since they were postulated from their gravitational effects on surrounding objects, which implies their mass is positive. The proposed cosmological dark energy , on the other hand, is more complicated, since according to general relativity the effects of both its energy density and its negative pressure contribute to its gravitational effect. Under general relativity any form of energy couples with spacetime to create
6912-483: Is the cosmological constant , G {\displaystyle G} is the Newtonian constant of gravitation and c {\displaystyle c} is the speed of light . The constant κ = 8 π G c 4 {\displaystyle \kappa ={\frac {8\pi G}{c^{4}}}} is referred to as the Einstein gravitational constant. A major area of research
7056-486: Is the ability to hold at risk or strike rapidly and persistently, with a wide range of munitions, any target and to create swift, decisive, and precise effects across multiple domains. Strategic attack is defined as "offensive action specifically selected to achieve national strategic objectives. These attacks seek to weaken the adversary's ability or will to engage in conflict, and may achieve strategic objectives without necessarily having to achieve operational objectives as
7200-463: Is the altered shape of space, deformed by massive objects, that causes gravity, which is actually a property of deformed space rather than being a true force. Although the equations cannot normally produce a "negative geometry", it is possible to do so by using " negative mass ". The same equations do not, of themselves, rule out the existence of negative mass. Both general relativity and Newtonian gravity appear to predict that negative mass would produce
7344-580: Is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission. Positive nuclear command, control, communications; effective nuclear weapons security; and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. Command and control is "the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. Command and control functions are performed through an arrangement of personnel, equipment, communications, facilities, and procedures employed by
SECTION 50
#17328758334347488-445: Is the discovery of exact solutions to the Einstein field equations. Solving these equations amounts to calculating a precise value for the metric tensor (which defines the curvature and geometry of spacetime) under certain physical conditions. There is no formal definition for what constitutes such solutions, but most scientists agree that they should be expressable using elementary functions or linear differential equations . Some of
7632-650: Is to achieve commander's intent and desired effects by gaining and keeping offensive initiative. The origins of the United States Air Force can be traced back to the Union Army Balloon Corps of the American Civil War . The Union Balloon Corps, established by aeronaut Thaddeus S. C. Lowe , provided aerial reconnaissance for the Union Army . This early use of balloons for military purposes marked
7776-506: Is well understood to be illusory, even under Newtonian models, it has nevertheless generated numerous claims of anti-gravity devices and any number of patented devices. None of these devices has ever been demonstrated to work under controlled conditions, and they have often become the subject of conspiracy theories as a result. Another "rotating device" example is shown in a series of patents granted to Henry Wallace between 1968 and 1974. His devices consist of rapidly spinning disks of brass ,
7920-517: The B-2 bomber . There is also research and videos on the internet purported to show lifter-style capacitor devices working in a vacuum, therefore not receiving propulsion from ion drift or ion wind being generated in air. Follow-up studies on Brown's work and other claims have been conducted by R. L. Talley in a 1990 US Air Force study, NASA scientist Jonathan Campbell in a 2003 experiment, and Martin Tajmar in
8064-661: The Bomber Mafia ), followed by fighters ( Fighter Mafia ). In response to a 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident , Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accepted in June 2009 the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley . Moseley's successor, General Norton A. Schwartz , a former airlift and special operations pilot,
8208-472: The International System of Units (SI). The force of gravity on Earth is the resultant (vector sum) of two forces: (a) The gravitational attraction in accordance with Newton's universal law of gravitation, and (b) the centrifugal force, which results from the choice of an earthbound, rotating frame of reference. The force of gravity is weakest at the equator because of the centrifugal force caused by
8352-546: The latent force John Keely harnessed, by employing frequency to release the latent force found within all atomic matter . In an ostensibly non-fictitious article published in 1897 in The San Francisco Call titled "The Secret of Aerial Flight Revealed," science correspondent Frank M. Close , D.Sc., visits an unnamed Hindu man masquerading as a viticulturist somewhere on the Pacific coast who claims to have invented
8496-409: The 1960s. Former Lieutenant Colonel Ansel Talbert wrote two series of newspaper articles claiming that most of the major aviation firms had started gravity control propulsion research in the 1950s. However, there is little outside confirmation of these stories, and since they take place in the midst of the policy by press release era, it is not clear how much weight these stories should be given. It
8640-468: The 2006 Nobel Prize in physics , and Gerard 't Hooft (2015) who previously won the 1999 Nobel Prize in physics. General relativity was introduced in the 1910s, but development of the theory was greatly slowed by a lack of suitable mathematical tools. It appeared that anti-gravity was outlawed under general relativity. It is claimed the US Air Force also ran a study effort throughout the 1950s and into
8784-476: The Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force retain administrative authority over their members. Along with conducting independent air operations, the United States Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2020 , the service operates approximately 5,500 military aircraft and approximately 400 ICBMs . The world's largest air force, it has
SECTION 60
#17328758334348928-517: The Air Force is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force , who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . As directed by the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force, certain Air Force components are assigned to unified combatant commands . Combatant commanders are delegated operational authority of the forces assigned to them, while the Secretary of
9072-410: The Air Force states as global vigilance, global reach, and global power. Air superiority is "that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, air, and special operations forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force" (JP 1-02). Offensive Counter-Air (OCA)
9216-422: The Air Force's readiness to carry out the nuclear strike operations mission as well as from specific actions taken to assure allies as a part of extended deterrence. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD and delivering them contributes to promoting security and is also an integral part of this mission. Moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are
9360-478: The Annual Motion of the Earth , explained that gravitation applied to "all celestial bodies" In 1684, Newton sent a manuscript to Edmond Halley titled De motu corporum in gyrum ('On the motion of bodies in an orbit') , which provided a physical justification for Kepler's laws of planetary motion . Halley was impressed by the manuscript and urged Newton to expand on it, and a few years later Newton published
9504-535: The BEAST, the other portions include defending and protecting their base of operations, forming a structure of leadership, directing search and recovery, and basic self aid buddy care. During this event, the Military Training Instructors (MTI) act as mentors and opposing forces in a deployment exercise. In November 2022, the USAF announced that it will discontinue BEAST and replace it with another deployment training program called PACER FORGE. In 2007,
9648-629: The Big Bang. Neutron star and black hole formation also create detectable amounts of gravitational radiation. This research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. In December 2012, a research team in China announced that it had produced measurements of the phase lag of Earth tides during full and new moons which seem to prove that the speed of gravity is equal to the speed of light. This means that if
9792-452: The Earth's rotation and because points on the equator are furthest from the center of the Earth. The force of gravity varies with latitude and increases from about 9.780 m/s at the Equator to about 9.832 m/s at the poles. General relativity predicts that energy can be transported out of a system through gravitational radiation. The first indirect evidence for gravitational radiation
9936-459: The Earth) is surrounded by its own gravitational field, which can be conceptualized with Newtonian physics as exerting an attractive force on all objects. Assuming a spherically symmetrical planet, the strength of this field at any given point above the surface is proportional to the planetary body's mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of the body. The strength of
10080-522: The Foundation turned its attention away from trying to control gravity, to simply better understanding it. The Foundation nearly disappeared after Babson's death in 1967. However, it continues to run an essay award, offering prizes of up to $ 4,000. As of 2017, it is still administered out of Wellesley, Massachusetts , by George Rideout Jr., son of the foundation's original director. Winners include California astrophysicist George F. Smoot (1993), who later won
10224-562: The Moon has space travel based on the gravity-blocking properties of " Cavorite ." Philip Francis Nowlan 's 1928 story Armageddon 2419 A.D. describes "inertron," a substance that falls up. The story was the basis for the Buck Rogers comic strip and adaptations. Criteria: Gravity In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight' ) is a fundamental interaction primarily observed as mutual attraction between all things that have mass . Gravity is, by far,
10368-770: The Navy , and the newly created Department of the Air Force. Prior to 1947, the responsibility for military aviation was shared between the Army Air Forces and its predecessor organizations (for land-based operations), the Navy (for sea-based operations from aircraft carriers and amphibious aircraft), and the Marine Corps (for close air support of Marine Corps operations). The 1940s proved to be important for military aviation in other ways as well. In 1947, Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager broke
10512-457: The ROMO. The purpose of nuclear deterrence operations (NDO) is to operate, maintain, and secure nuclear forces to achieve an assured capability to deter an adversary from taking action against vital US interests. In the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. The sub-elements of this function are: Assure/Dissuade/Deter is a mission set derived from
10656-602: The Sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would keep orbiting the vacant point normally for 8 minutes, which is the time light takes to travel that distance. The team's findings were released in Science Bulletin in February 2013. In October 2017, the LIGO and Virgo detectors received gravitational wave signals within 2 seconds of gamma ray satellites and optical telescopes seeing signals from
10800-543: The US determines national or multinational security objectives and guidance, and develops and uses national resources to accomplish these objectives. These national objectives in turn provide the direction for developing overall military objectives, which are used to develop the objectives and strategy for each theater. At the operational level command and control, campaigns and major operations are planned, conducted, sustained, and assessed to accomplish strategic goals within theaters or areas of operations. These activities imply
10944-510: The USAF dwarfs all other U.S. and allied air components, it often provides support for allied forces in conflicts to which the United States is otherwise not involved, such as the 2013 French campaign in Mali . The USAF has also taken part in numerous humanitarian operations. Some of the more major ones include the following: The culture of the United States Air Force is primarily driven by pilots, at first those piloting bombers (driven originally by
11088-464: The USAF established the nuclear-focused Air Force Global Strike Command on 24 October 2008, which later assumed control of all USAF bomber aircraft. On 26 June 2009, the USAF released a force structure plan that cut fighter aircraft and shifted resources to better support nuclear, irregular and information warfare. On 23 July 2009, The USAF released their Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Flight Plan, detailing Air Force UAS plans through 2047. One third of
11232-509: The USAF undertook a Reduction-in-Force (RIF). Because of budget constraints, the USAF planned to reduce the service's size from 360,000 active duty personnel to 316,000. The size of the active duty force in 2007 was roughly 64% of that of what the USAF was at the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. However, the reduction was ended at approximately 330,000 personnel in 2008 in order to meet the demand signal of combatant commanders and associated mission requirements. These same constraints have seen
11376-559: The University of South Carolina and confirmed to Wired reporter Charles Platt in 1998, the device would create a "force beam" in any desired direction and the university planned to patent and license this device. No further information about this university research project or the "Gravity Generator" device was ever made public. The Institute for Gravity Research of the Göde Scientific Foundation has tried to reproduce many of
11520-627: The Zodiac . John Jacob Astor IV used it in his 1894 science fiction novel A Journey in Other Worlds . Jack London describes it as "the hypothetical existence of a force, the converse of gravitation, which Astor has named 'apergy,'" in his short story entitled "A Thousand Deaths," first published in The Black Cat in 1899. Apergy can also be found in an 1896 article, "Some Truths About Keely," where Clara Jessup Bloomfield-Moore used it to describe
11664-526: The ability to fulfill their primary mission. Rapid Global Mobility is essential to virtually every military operation, allowing forces to reach foreign or domestic destinations quickly, thus seizing the initiative through speed and surprise. Airlift is "operations to transport and deliver forces and materiel through the air in support of strategic, operational, or tactical objectives" (Annex 3–17, Air Mobility Operations). The rapid and flexible options afforded by airlift allow military forces and national leaders
11808-407: The ability to integrate, evaluate, and interpret information from available sources to create a finished intelligence product for presentation or dissemination to enable increased situational awareness. Dissemination and integration is "the delivery of intelligence to users in a suitable form and the application of the intelligence to appropriate missions, tasks, and functions" (JP 2-01). It provides
11952-425: The ability to present information and intelligence products across the ROMO enabling understanding of the operational environment to military and national decision-makers. Rapid global mobility is the timely deployment, employment, sustainment, augmentation, and redeployment of military forces and capabilities across the ROMO. It provides joint military forces the capability to move from place to place while retaining
12096-455: The ability to respond and operate in a variety of situations and time frames. The global reach capability of airlift provides the ability to apply US power worldwide by delivering forces to crisis locations. It serves as a US presence that demonstrates resolve and compassion in humanitarian crisis. Air refueling is "the refueling of an aircraft in flight by another aircraft" (JP 1-02). Air refueling extends presence, increases range, and serves as
12240-496: The attractive force is stronger for closer bodies. In a communication to the Royal Society in 1666, Hooke wrote I will explain a system of the world very different from any yet received. It is founded on the following positions. 1. That all the heavenly bodies have not only a gravitation of their parts to their own proper centre, but that they also mutually attract each other within their spheres of action. 2. That all bodies having
12384-430: The beginning of modern aerial warfare and set the stage for the development of the United States Air Force. The U.S. War Department created the first antecedent of the U.S. Air Force, as a part of the U.S. Army, on 1 August 1907, which through a succession of changes of organization, titles, and missions advanced toward eventual independence 40 years later. In World War II , almost 68,000 U.S. airmen died helping to win
12528-422: The black hole's event horizon . However, for most applications, gravity is well approximated by Newton's law of universal gravitation , which describes gravity as a force causing any two bodies to be attracted toward each other, with magnitude proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Current models of particle physics imply that
12672-517: The different experiments which claim any "anti-gravity" effects. All attempts by this group to observe an anti-gravity effect by reproducing past experiments have been unsuccessful thus far. The foundation has offered a reward of one million euros for a reproducible anti-gravity experiment. The existence of anti-gravity is a common theme in fantasy and science fiction . Apergy is a fictitious form of anti-gravitational energy first described by Percy Greg in his 1880 sword and planet novel Across
12816-494: The earliest instance of gravity in the universe, possibly in the form of quantum gravity , supergravity or a gravitational singularity , along with ordinary space and time , developed during the Planck epoch (up to 10 seconds after the birth of the universe), possibly from a primeval state, such as a false vacuum , quantum vacuum or virtual particle , in a currently unknown manner. Scientists are currently working to develop
12960-422: The enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. If a crisis occurs, rapid generation and, if necessary, deployment of nuclear strike capabilities will demonstrate US resolve and may prompt an adversary to alter the course of action deemed threatening to our national interest. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level and lead to
13104-446: The existence of a quantum gravity particle, the graviton . Various theoretical explanations of quantum gravity have been created, including superstring theory , loop quantum gravity , E8 theory and asymptotic safety theory amongst many others. In Newton's law of universal gravitation , gravity was an external force transmitted by unknown means. In the 20th century, Newton's model was replaced by general relativity where gravity
13248-466: The fall of bodies. The mid-16th century Italian physicist Giambattista Benedetti published papers claiming that, due to specific gravity , objects made of the same material but with different masses would fall at the same speed. With the 1586 Delft tower experiment , the Flemish physicist Simon Stevin observed that two cannonballs of differing sizes and weights fell at the same rate when dropped from
13392-483: The fire and movement of friendly forces is not required" (Annex 3-03, Counterland Operations). Close Air Support is defined as "air action by fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces and which require detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of those forces" (JP 1-02). This can be as a pre-planned event or on demand from an alert posture (ground or airborne). It can be conducted across
13536-433: The following inverse-square law: F = G m 1 m 2 r 2 , {\displaystyle F=G{\frac {m_{1}m_{2}}{r^{2}}},} where F is the force, m 1 and m 2 are the masses of the objects interacting, r is the distance between the centers of the masses and G is the gravitational constant 6.674 × 10 m ⋅kg ⋅s . Newton's Principia
13680-409: The framework for the understanding of gravity. Physicists continue to work to find solutions to the Einstein field equations that form the basis of general relativity and continue to test the theory, finding excellent agreement in all cases. The Einstein field equations are a system of 10 partial differential equations which describe how matter affects the curvature of spacetime. The system
13824-458: The galaxy YGKOW G1 . Frame dragging , the idea that a rotating massive object should twist spacetime around it, was confirmed by Gravity Probe B results in 2011. In 2015, the LIGO observatory detected faint gravitational waves , the existence of which had been predicted by general relativity. Scientists believe that the waves emanated from a black hole merger that occurred 1.5 billion light-years away. Every planetary body (including
13968-455: The geometries that cause gravity. A longstanding question was whether or not these same equations applied to antimatter . The issue was considered solved in 1960 with the development of CPT symmetry , which demonstrated that antimatter follows the same laws of physics as "normal" matter, and therefore has positive energy content and also causes (and reacts to) gravity like normal matter (see gravitational interaction of antimatter ). For much of
14112-603: The globe to conduct current and future operations. Planning and directing is "the determination of intelligence requirements, development of appropriate intelligence architecture, preparation of a collection plan, and issuance of orders and requests to information collection agencies" (JP 2-01, Joint and National Intelligence Support to Military Operations). These activities enable the synchronization and integration of collection, processing, exploitation, analysis, and dissemination activities/resources to meet information requirements of national and military decision-makers. Collection
14256-472: The gravitational effect. Many studies have attempted to reproduce Podkletnov's experiment, always to negative results. Douglas Torr, of the University of Alabama in Huntsville proposed how a time-dependent magnetic field could cause the spins of the lattice ions in a superconductor to generate detectable gravitomagnetic and gravitoelectric fields in a series of papers published between 1991 and 1993. In 1999,
14400-514: The gravitational field is numerically equal to the acceleration of objects under its influence. The rate of acceleration of falling objects near the Earth's surface varies very slightly depending on latitude, surface features such as mountains and ridges, and perhaps unusually high or low sub-surface densities. For purposes of weights and measures, a standard gravity value is defined by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , under
14544-588: The gravity blocking substance "Cavorite" in H. G. Wells 's The First Men in the Moon and the Spindizzy machines in James Blish's Cities in Flight . "Anti-gravity" is often used to refer to devices that look as if they reverse gravity even though they operate through other means, such as lifters , which fly in the air by moving air with electromagnetic fields . The possibility of creating anti-gravity depends upon
14688-468: The ground. In contrast to Newtonian physics , Einstein believed that it was possible for this acceleration to occur without any force being applied to the object. Einstein proposed that spacetime is curved by matter, and that free-falling objects are moving along locally straight paths in curved spacetime. These straight paths are called geodesics . As in Newton's first law of motion, Einstein believed that
14832-440: The idea that gravity is an attractive force that draws objects to the Earth and used the term gurutvākarṣaṇ to describe it. In the ancient Middle East , gravity was a topic of fierce debate. The Persian intellectual Al-Biruni believed that the force of gravity was not unique to the Earth, and he correctly assumed that other heavenly bodies should exert a gravitational attraction as well. In contrast, Al-Khazini held
14976-596: The idea that time runs more slowly in the presence of a gravitational field. The time delay of light passing close to a massive object was first identified by Irwin I. Shapiro in 1964 in interplanetary spacecraft signals. In 1971, scientists discovered the first-ever black hole in the galaxy Cygnus . The black hole was detected because it was emitting bursts of x-rays as it consumed a smaller star, and it came to be known as Cygnus X-1 . This discovery confirmed yet another prediction of general relativity, because Einstein's equations implied that light could not escape from
15120-442: The intention of taking the initiative" (JP 1-02). It includes detection and warning; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense; camouflage, concealment, and deception; hardening; reconstitution; dispersion; redundancy; and mobility, counter-measures, and stealth. Airspace control is "a process used to increase operational effectiveness by promoting the safe, efficient, and flexible use of airspace" (JP 1-02). It promotes
15264-457: The interactions of three or more massive bodies (the " n -body problem"), and some scientists suspect that the Einstein field equations will never be solved in this context. However, it is still possible to construct an approximate solution to the field equations in the n -body problem by using the technique of post-Newtonian expansion . In general, the extreme nonlinearity of the Einstein field equations makes it difficult to solve them in all but
15408-525: The last quarter of the 20th century, the physics community was involved in attempts to produce a unified field theory , a single physical theory that explains the four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. Scientists have made progress in unifying the three quantum forces , but gravity has remained "the problem" in every attempt. This has not stopped any number of such attempts from being made, however. Generally these attempts tried to "quantize gravity" by positing
15552-463: The mass in the Universe towards it. He also thought that the speed of a falling object should increase with its weight, a conclusion that was later shown to be false. While Aristotle's view was widely accepted throughout Ancient Greece, there were other thinkers such as Plutarch who correctly predicted that the attraction of gravity was not unique to the Earth. Although he did not understand gravity as
15696-727: The mid-2030s. On 22 October 2023, the USAF conducted its first-ever trilateral exercise with the South Korean and Japanese air forces near the Korean Peninsula. On 29 November 2023, a USAF Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey crashed in the Japan island of Yakushima killing 1 airman. In 2024, citing the Supreme Court 's ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo , the Air Force refused to comply with an EPA order that they develop
15840-429: The most notable solutions of the equations include: Today, there remain many important situations in which the Einstein field equations have not been solved. Chief among these is the two-body problem , which concerns the geometry of spacetime around two mutually interacting massive objects, such as the Sun and the Earth, or the two stars in a binary star system . The situation gets even more complicated when considering
15984-405: The most specific cases. Despite its success in predicting the effects of gravity at large scales, general relativity is ultimately incompatible with quantum mechanics . This is because general relativity describes gravity as a smooth, continuous distortion of spacetime, while quantum mechanics holds that all forces arise from the exchange of discrete particles known as quanta . This contradiction
16128-447: The motion of planets , stars , galaxies , and even light . On Earth , gravity gives weight to physical objects , and the Moon's gravity is responsible for sublunar tides in the oceans. The corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through
16272-565: The name "diametric drive". The work of the BPP program continues in the independent, non-NASA affiliated Tau Zero Foundation . There have been a number of attempts to build anti-gravity devices, and a small number of reports of anti-gravity-like effects in the scientific literature. None of the examples that follow are accepted as reproducible examples of anti-gravity. Gyroscopes produce a force when twisted that operates "out of plane" and can appear to lift themselves against gravity. Although this force
16416-508: The opposite force of gravity. In Chris Roberson 's short story "Annus Mirabilis" from the 2006 second volume of Tales of the Shadowmen , Doctor Omega and Albert Einstein investigate apergy. Apergy is also mentioned in the Warren Ellis comic Aetheric Mechanics , as being generated by Cavorite technology from The First Men in the Moon . H. G. Wells 's 1901 novel The First Men in
16560-422: The orbit of the planet Mercury which could not be explained by Newton's theory: the perihelion of the orbit was increasing by about 42.98 arcseconds per century. The most obvious explanation for this discrepancy was an as-yet-undiscovered celestial body, such as a planet orbiting the Sun even closer than Mercury, but all efforts to find such a body turned out to be fruitless. In 1915, Albert Einstein developed
16704-462: The other fundamental interactions . The electromagnetic force arises from an exchange of virtual photons , where the QFT description of gravity is that there is an exchange of virtual gravitons . This description reproduces general relativity in the classical limit . However, this approach fails at short distances of the order of the Planck length , where a more complete theory of quantum gravity (or
16848-436: The other hand, will fall away from the negative matter. He noted that two identical masses, one positive and one negative, placed near each other will therefore self-accelerate in the direction of the line between them, with the negative mass chasing after the positive mass. Notice that because the negative mass acquires negative kinetic energy , the total energy of the accelerating masses remains at zero. Forward pointed out that
16992-444: The physical interaction between matter and space, where gravity occurs as a consequence of matter causing a geometric deformation of spacetime which is otherwise flat. Einstein, both independently and with Walther Mayer , attempted to unify his theory of gravity with electromagnetism using the work of Theodor Kaluza and James Clerk Maxwell to link gravity and quantum field theory . Theoretical quantum physicists have postulated
17136-415: The planes that the USAF planned to buy in the future were to be unmanned. According to Air Force Chief Scientist, Greg Zacharias , the USAF anticipates having hypersonic weapons by the 2020s, hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as remotely-piloted vehicles, or RPAs) by the 2030s and recoverable hypersonic RPAs aircraft by the 2040s. The USAF intends to deploy a Sixth-generation jet fighter by
17280-496: The planet's actual trajectory. In order to explain this discrepancy, many astronomers speculated that there might be a large object beyond the orbit of Uranus which was disrupting its orbit. In 1846, the astronomers John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier independently used Newton's law to predict Neptune's location in the night sky, and the planet was discovered there within a day. Eventually, astronomers noticed an eccentricity in
17424-540: The potential consequences of an accident or unauthorized act, nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon systems require special consideration and protection against risks and threats inherent in their peacetime and wartime environments. In conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, the Air Force achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. This program applies to materiel, personnel, and procedures that contribute to
17568-458: The process of gravitropism and influencing the circulation of fluids in multicellular organisms . The gravitational attraction between the original gaseous matter in the universe caused it to coalesce and form stars which eventually condensed into galaxies, so gravity is responsible for many of the large-scale structures in the universe. Gravity has an infinite range, although its effects become weaker as objects get farther away. Gravity
17712-483: The production of intelligence" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to transform, extract, and make available collected information suitable for further analysis or action across the ROMO. Analysis and production is "the conversion of processed information into intelligence through the integration, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of all source data and the preparation of intelligence products in support of known or anticipated user requirements" (JP 2-01). It provides
17856-409: The purpose of the USAF as: The five core missions of the Air Force have not changed dramatically since the Air Force became independent in 1947, but they have evolved and are now articulated as air superiority, global integrated ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. The purpose of all of these core missions is to provide what
18000-491: The safe, efficient, and flexible use of airspace, mitigates the risk of fratricide, enhances both offensive and defensive operations, and permits greater agility of air operations as a whole. It both deconflicts and facilitates the integration of joint air operations. Global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) is the synchronization and integration of the planning and operation of sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, dissemination systems across
18144-597: The safety, security, and control of nuclear weapons, thus assuring no nuclear accidents, incidents, loss, or unauthorized or accidental use (a Broken Arrow incident ). The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements. Adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Force's ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations
18288-478: The same direction. This confirmed that the speed of gravitational waves was the same as the speed of light. There are some observations that are not adequately accounted for, which may point to the need for better theories of gravity or perhaps be explained in other ways. US Air Force The United States Air Force ( USAF ) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces , and
18432-786: The same position as Aristotle that all matter in the Universe is attracted to the center of the Earth. In the mid-16th century, various European scientists experimentally disproved the Aristotelian notion that heavier objects fall at a faster rate. In particular, the Spanish Dominican priest Domingo de Soto wrote in 1551 that bodies in free fall uniformly accelerate. De Soto may have been influenced by earlier experiments conducted by other Dominican priests in Italy, including those by Benedetto Varchi , Francesco Beato, Luca Ghini , and Giovan Bellaso which contradicted Aristotle's teachings on
18576-423: The scientific community. In 1959, American physicists Robert Pound and Glen Rebka performed an experiment in which they used gamma rays to confirm the prediction of gravitational time dilation . By sending the rays down a 74-foot tower and measuring their frequency at the bottom, the scientists confirmed that light is redshifted as it moves towards a source of gravity. The observed redshift also supported
18720-458: The self-acceleration effect is due to the negative inertial mass, and could be seen induced without the gravitational forces between the particles. The Standard Model of particle physics, which describes all currently known forms of matter, does not include negative mass. Although cosmological dark matter may consist of particles outside the Standard Model whose nature is unknown, their mass
18864-545: The sound barrier in his X-1 rocket-powered aircraft, beginning a new era of aeronautics in America. The predecessor organizations in the Army of today's Air Force are: During the early 2000s, two USAF aircraft procurement projects took longer than expected, the KC-X and F-35 programs. As a result, the USAF was setting new records for average aircraft age. Since 2005, the USAF has placed
19008-431: The surface of a planet or other celestial body; gravity may also include, in addition to gravitation, the centrifugal force resulting from the planet's rotation (see § Earth's gravity ) . The nature and mechanism of gravity were explored by a wide range of ancient scholars. In Greece , Aristotle believed that objects fell towards the Earth because the Earth was the center of the Universe and attracted all of
19152-463: The war, with only the infantry suffering more casualties. In practice, the U.S. Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) was virtually independent of the Army during World War II, and in virtually every way functioned as an independent service branch, but airmen still pressed for formal independence. The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947, which established the Department of the Air Force , but it
19296-411: The weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 10 times weaker than the strong interaction , 10 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 10 times weaker than the weak interaction . As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles . However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the macroscopic scale , and it determines
19440-421: Was able to confirm the predicted gravitational lensing of light during that year's solar eclipse . Eddington measured starlight deflections twice those predicted by Newtonian corpuscular theory, in accordance with the predictions of general relativity. Although Eddington's analysis was later disputed, this experiment made Einstein famous almost overnight and caused general relativity to become widely accepted in
19584-468: Was able to explain a wide variety of previously baffling experimental results. In the coming years, a wide range of experiments provided additional support for the idea of general relativity. Today, Einstein's theory of relativity is used for all gravitational calculations where absolute precision is desired, although Newton's inverse-square law is accurate enough for virtually all ordinary calculations. In modern physics , general relativity remains
19728-490: Was just an "interesting sideshow" and was inconclusive. During the close of the twentieth century NASA provided funding for the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program (BPP) from 1996 through 2002. This program studied a number of "far out" designs for space propulsion that were not receiving funding through normal university or commercial channels. Anti-gravity-like concepts were investigated under
19872-410: Was measured on 14 September 2015 by the LIGO detectors. The gravitational waves emitted during the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light years from Earth were measured. This observation confirms the theoretical predictions of Einstein and others that such waves exist. It also opens the way for practical observation and understanding of the nature of gravity and events in the Universe including
20016-487: Was not until 18 September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington , was sworn into office that the Air Force was officially formed as an independent service branch. The act created the National Military Establishment (renamed Department of Defense in 1949), which was composed of three subordinate Military Departments, namely the Department of the Army , the Department of
20160-534: Was terminated by the Mansfield Amendment of 1973, which restricted Department of Defense spending to only the areas of scientific research with explicit military applications. The Mansfield Amendment was passed specifically to end long-running projects that had little to show for their efforts. Under general relativity, gravity is the result of following spatial geometry (change in the normal shape of space) caused by local mass-energy. This theory holds that it
20304-429: Was that he had repeatedly clashed with Wynne and Moseley over other important non-nuclear related issues to the service. This followed an investigation into two incidents involving mishandling of nuclear weapons : specifically a nuclear weapons incident aboard a B-52 flight between Minot AFB and Barksdale AFB , and an accidental shipment of nuclear weapons components to Taiwan. To put more emphasis on nuclear assets,
20448-519: Was the first officer appointed to that position who did not have a background as a fighter or bomber pilot. The Washington Post reported in 2010 that General Schwartz began to dismantle the rigid class system of the USAF, particularly in the officer corps. In 2014, following morale and testing/cheating scandals in the Air Force's missile launch officer community, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James admitted that there remained
20592-537: Was through measurements of the Hulse–Taylor binary in 1973. This system consists of a pulsar and neutron star in orbit around one another. Its orbital period has decreased since its initial discovery due to a loss of energy, which is consistent for the amount of energy loss due to gravitational radiation. This research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993. The first direct evidence for gravitational radiation
20736-531: Was well received by the scientific community, and his law of gravitation quickly spread across the European world. More than a century later, in 1821, his theory of gravitation rose to even greater prominence when it was used to predict the existence of Neptune . In that year, the French astronomer Alexis Bouvard used this theory to create a table modeling the orbit of Uranus , which was shown to differ significantly from
#433566