Scientists to challenge Einstein’s ‘Speed of Light is Constant’ theory

A team of scientists from London and Canada is set to challenge one of Albert Einstein's accepted theories regarding the classification of the speed of light as constant, which means that light in a vacuum will have the same numerical value under any conditions. The new theory of the scientists, described in a paper published in the journal Physical Review, hypothesizes that the speed of light might actually be a variable.

Einstein has long claimed that the speed of light is constant and it would be impossible for anything to travel faster than light because it would violate the rules of physics. The speed of light was then treated to be a constant with a numerical value of 299,792,458 meters per second.  For many years, Einstein's theory remained to be the basis of most scientific milestones. However, Joao Magueijo, a scientist from the Imperial College of London, began to challenge Einstein's theory in order to solve a physics conundrum known as the "horizon problem".

"The theory, which we first proposed in the late-1990s, has now reached a maturity point -- it has produced a testable prediction," explained Professor Magueijo in a report. If observations in the near future do find this number to be accurate, it could lead to a modification of Einstein's theory of gravity.