Cosmological constant
Constante cosmológica
- Date
- 1917 · confidence high
- Place
- Berlin, Germany
- Credited to
- Albert Einstein
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Einstein added a term, the 'cosmological constant' (Λ), to the field equations of general relativity to obtain a static universe model, in his 1917 paper on cosmological considerations; he later regretted this modification, before it resurfaced decades later to explain dark energy.
Einstein withdrew the constant after Hubble's discovery of the expanding universe, reportedly calling it his 'greatest blunder' (an attribution that is disputed); in 1998 the discovery of accelerating cosmic expansion revalidated it as a description of dark energy.
What it led to
- the first relativistic cosmological model of the universe
- debate over expansion versus a static universe after Hubble's 1929 finding
- modern reinterpretation as dark energy after the 1998 discovery of accelerating expansion