Einstein's Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe

  • Evalyn Gates
W. W. Norton: 2009. 320 pp. £18.99, $25.95 9780393062380 | ISBN: 978-0-3930-6238-0

Gravitational lenses — heavenly bodies that bend light rays by their gravity — have emerged as powerful tools in the astronomer's repertoire. Yet their usefulness was difficult to foresee. In the 1930s, Albert Einstein wrote sceptically that “there is no great chance of observing this phenomenon”. Astronomer Henry Norris Russell titled them 'Perfect Tests of General Relativity that are Unavailable'. Only the optimistic Fritz Zwicky predicted that “the probability that ... gravitational lenses will be found becomes practically a certainty”, although he did not live to see it.

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