Faster than Light?

How was the speed of light first measured? Albert Einstein deduced it was the speed limit for everything in the universe. Is it possible to go faster?

A lecture by Katherine Blundell OBE, Gresham Professor of Astronomy
02 October 2019 1PM BST

The speed of light has fundamental significance.  This talk will explain how the speed of light was first measured, and how an obscure but brilliant patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland by the name of Albert Einstein deduced that the speed of light is the upper speed limit for everything in the Universe. It is even possible for things to be measured as travelling faster than the speed of light and I will explain how that is permissible and understandable in an Einsteinian worldview.

#GreshamLectures #Astronomy #Lightspeed #Science #Space #Light #Universe

[rodfaragini]

I'm hooked on this lady, such interesting topics and a wonderful speaking voice

[scottspoerry]

I too am glad for the Gresham lecture series. It gives the speakers more time and space to explore their fields of study for us. And we just have to focus on one area at a time.

[scottiusnevious]

"The sad thing about being faster than light, you can only travel in darkness". -Sonic 2004

[alanblight]

Fantastic . Always enthralling, the professor Fs the ineffable again . Thank you .

[frank]

What a brilliant woman. Astonishing intellect, accessibly delivered. Great lecture.

[timothyCubed_x_x_x]

Gresham lectures are always fascinating.

I particularly enjoy Katherine Blundell's lectures - she has a wonderful skill in making understandable the complex and sometimes almost unbelievable realities of our universe.

[techman]

Click Settings, click Playback Speed, click 1.25 or 1.5. You're welcome.

[rodfaragini]

I too have recently discovered this lecture series. So interesting and makes ones mind work lol. I'm hooked.

[tnewanz]

I got clickbaited, but I'm OK with it. Brilliant lecture.

[CandideSchmyles]

A recent study by John Hakilla and Robert Nemiroff recently proposed that superluminal speeds "are" achieved within the plasma jets of black holes and is not in violation of special relativity as these jets are a medium and not vacuum. The medium obviously has a density greater than vacuum and the very early universe also must have been dense and give some supporting evidence for the mechanism of inflationary theory, not in the work of the above but by my ignorant speculation.

[WildBillCox]

Great lecture. Liked and linked., I was already subscribed.
About air commuting at lightspeed. 1/15 second . . . followed by an hour, waiting for a runway to land, and then three hours in traffic holding pattern when trying to leave the airport. ;-)

[jkaryskycoo]

I, for one, typically find Katherine's lectures a bit slow-paced, perhaps designed for a different audience than just me and myself, I tend to think the basics are covered a bit slowly and in a bit too much detail.

I do watch them all and find them interesting, though. Thank you, Katherine.

[seabud]

I wish she had explained why magnetic fields only propagate at speed c through space.
Apparently the concept of space time is coming under attack in physics. Does this mean that the concept of the aether is returning? Is the speed of light the speed of induction of energy through the medium of the vacuum field/aether. We are told non stop in these sorts of lectures that space isn’t empty. Yet people who mention .... the Aether are usually patronised/ laughed at.

[nwayhoncho]

Something can go faster than light but it’d be imperceivable to any thing without instantaneous perception

[marquisdemoo]

Hmm, cable lengths and the speed of light. In the leadup to the British Army drawdown in HK in 1992 I was given the task of writing a report condemning a directional HF antenna that did not work so it could be dismantled. The antenna consisted of a series of 8 or so hoops laid out in a straight line connected in such a way that the signal from the desired angle was additive. The concept was that the signal from the hoops at the desired wave-front leading edge was delayed by longer cable lengths until it was exactly in phase with the signal from the trailing edge which had shorter cables. However different cable types have different propagation speeds and it seems the installation team decided to improve on the design specified URM 67 by installing the much more expensive LDF4-50 but cut to the same lengths as had been specified for URM67. I was not popular when I suggested I could repair the antenna by adjusting the cable lengths as my report was intended to justify its removal.

[ColHogan-buxq]

Problem is : what if light _is not_ made of particules ?

[TheRainHarvester]

I'll release a spooky Halloween video: the actual, physical reason, why time slows down at the speed of light...Stay tuned! You may really like it!

[chasingdragons]

Light travels at the specific speed of the medium it is in. As does all electo-magnetic radiation. Longitudinal motion through the Aether as described by Tesla is magnitudes of magnitudes faster.

[ispeeeaaakeeewhaaaleee]

Very distant galaxies move away from us faster than the speed of light, because of the space inbetween expanding at a greater rate than the speed of light.

[kevincasson]

She has Iona movin around Jupiter, in a clockwise direction. Shouldn't it be anti- clockwise?