We constantly say that Einstein’s General and Special theories of relativity have passed many different tests, insenuating their accuracy.
Before Einsten, we tested Isaac Newton’s theories, which also passed with accuracy until Einstein came along.
What’s to say another Einstein/Newton comes along 200-300 years from now to dispute Einstein’s theories?
Is that even possible or are his theories grounded in certainty at this point?
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Newton did have it mostly right, that is to say he was right about planets that weren’t mercury and objects that were much slower than light.
When Einstein came along with his theories, they were more complex but they reduced to Newton’s theories in those limiting cases. So you can see Einstein as a generalization of Newton.
And yet people didn’t really believe it at the time. He published two other theories at the same time as special relativity, and he won the Nobel for the other two. Despite his formula for relative velocities falling out of Maxwell’s equations and the failure of the Michelson Morley experiment, it took a long time for enough precise tests to confirm other predictions before relativity was finally accepted. Even when they first launched GPS satellites, his theories weren’t universally accepted, and those satellites themselves were pretty much the final conclusive proof people needed.
We only accepted Einstein kicking and screaming, when faced with overwhelming evidence. So he’s at least as right today as Newton was in his day.
Any future theory will almost certainly generalize Einstein, and not contradict or replace him. His equations will continue to be used in most cases, for the same reason we still use Newton for cars and planes and billiard balls. So Newton is still right today, and so is Einstein, and if we find any places we can do experiments where Einstein is wrong, they will be very well hidden indeed.
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