

Einstein versus Peer Review... - DaniFong
http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_58/iss_9/43_1.shtml

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mattmaroon
"Today it is well known that one cannot construct a single coordinate system
to describe plane gravitational waves without encountering a singularity
somewhere in spacetime"

Yeah, I mean, who doesn't know that. That's like middle school stuff right
there.

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gambling8nt
"It is well known" is shorthand for "I don't want to bother figuring out the
correct original reference for it", not "the average layperson knows this".

~~~
Create
no, it is rather a shorthand for "I cannot explain the basic concept behind it
clearly in a few words, because I fail to fully understand it"

Anyway, this paper publishing business has become an industry, which has
little to do with exposing/exchanging ideas/thoughts on a given topic. It has
become an industry for justifying applications for grants, as most people
rather game the system then be left without a paycheck. See the story behind
the Bose-Einstein condensate: Einstein had hardly anything to do with it --
except to open the door to the publisher (who btw has also nothing to do with
it, still owning the copyright to Bose's work)

~~~
swombat
No, it's not.

It's shorthand for "Most people in the field or capable of understanding an
explanation of this already know it".

Sorry, but it _is_ well known to physicists.

~~~
hugh
Or at least, to the subset of physicists likely to be reading a paper on
gravitational waves.

In any case I think it's safe to assume that Einstein understood it. He was
pretty good at the whole general relativity thing.

~~~
mattmaroon
I was just joking because I found the sentence humorous.

