Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein published a thesis that stated nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light. For over a century, Einstein’s theory of special relativity has formed the basis of modern physics, but now a group of international scientists has broken the speed of light.
Italian scientists were among researchers on the international team that has captured neutrino particles travelling faster than the speed of light.
The tests, which took place over a three-year period, recorded neutrinos travelling 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. The particles passed the barrier of 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second on their travels between CERN in Geneva and an underground physics laboratory in Abruzzo.
Researcher Antonio Ereditato explained that the findings were a huge surprise. "We were convinced we would find negative results," he said.
Ereditato, who is from Naples, continued: “We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing”.
Though the scientists are confident of their measurements, their findings call a fundamental law of physics into question. The record-breaking particle speed will therefore be independently confirmed by researchers in America and Japan.
