Australian Physicist Claims Gravity Alters Light Speed, Challenging Einstein's Core Principle
Enbang Li, a physicist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, has proposed that the speed of light is not constant but is instead influenced by local gravity. Using a device built within an elevator shaft on the university campus, Li claims to have detected changes in light speed as it traverses Earth's surface. These findings suggest that gravity can speed up light, potentially contradicting the foundational assumption of special relativity that light travels at a constant rate in a vacuum. If validated, this discovery could impact Earth science applications, including climate monitoring and mineral resource exploration, by providing new methods to measure local gravitational variations.