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Line 101: − − Advocates of moral relativity seized on the theory of relativity to legitimize their views.<ref>http://www.moralrelativity.com/about1.html</ref> Historians such as Paul Johnson wrote about how the theory of relativity caused a sea change, justified or not, in 20th century thought.
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== Political Support for Relativity ==
== Political Support for Relativity ==
The Theory of Relativity enjoys a disproportionate share of federal funding of physics research today,<ref>The Democratic Congress insisted on the $250 million LIGO project despite substantial criticism by scientists that it was wasting scarce research dollars. John Travis, "LIGO: a $ 250 million gamble; Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory; includes related article," ''Science'' p. 612 (Apr. 30, 1993). "Adding to the acrimony is LIGO's $ 250 million price tag, which some hold responsible for NSF's recent funding woes." ''Id.''</ref> much of it unsuccessful. The $365 million dollar LIGO project, for example, has failed to detect the gravity waves predicted by relativity.<ref>http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/sept/gravitywaves/index.html</ref> However, more than twenty years of observing the [[pulsar]] pair PSR 1913+16 have shown its orbital period to be dropping at exactly the rate expected due to loss of orbital energy by gravitational radiation <ref>http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/press.html</ref>, resulting in the 1993 Nobel Prize for physics being awarded to the discoverers of the pulsar pair, Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse.
The Theory of Relativity enjoys a disproportionate share of federal funding of physics research today,<ref>The Democratic Congress insisted on the $250 million LIGO project despite substantial criticism by scientists that it was wasting scarce research dollars. John Travis, "LIGO: a $ 250 million gamble; Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory; includes related article," ''Science'' p. 612 (Apr. 30, 1993). "Adding to the acrimony is LIGO's $ 250 million price tag, which some hold responsible for NSF's recent funding woes." ''Id.''</ref> much of it unsuccessful. The $365 million dollar LIGO project, for example, has failed to detect the gravity waves predicted by relativity.<ref>http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/sept/gravitywaves/index.html</ref> However, more than twenty years of observing the [[pulsar]] pair PSR 1913+16 have shown its orbital period to be dropping at exactly the rate expected due to loss of orbital energy by gravitational radiation <ref>http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/press.html</ref>, resulting in the 1993 Nobel Prize for physics being awarded to the discoverers of the pulsar pair, Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse.