# Did the military top-brass behind the GPS system really doubt relativistic effects ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656 "2011-10-24T18:11:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656/61 "2011-10-31T23:35:46Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Personally, while I have no dog in this fight, I’m inclined to believe a professor of Oxford. who is also a member of the Royal Society (and so according to previous posts couldn’t be mistaken about this) , and who more importantly has no axe to grind about the subject, and no career to be harmed. You are way, way off the mark here. I don’t know whether there is a tiny kernel of truth in this story or not. However what I do believe is that an Oxford don is not less but quite possibly more than averagely capable of telling - and likely to tell - a humorous and probably apocryphal anecdote when on a light entertainment show that is virtually _about_ amusing apocrypha, fer Og’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656/62 "2011-10-31T23:45:26Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What I do believe however is that an Oxford don is not less but quite possibly more than averagely likely to and capable of telling a humorous and probably apocryphal anecdote when on a light entertainment show that is virtually _about_ amusing apocrypha, fer Og’s sake. Well, its more about discerning the apocryphal from the actually factual. But the point was he was guest rather than a host (who’s factoid are presumably checked by a team of researchers), so it is possible it was apocryphal. However if you look further up the thread someone found an article (from a respected academic publication) written by an expert who was closely involved in the process and said that some people did indeed doubt that relativistic effects were “truths”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656/63 "2011-11-01T00:21:16Z")
Possible? Come on. The guests are there to amuse. Tell jokes and funny stories. The truth is barely a consideration. Again, I have no idea about the answer as regards the OP and I’m not going to comment on that one way or the other. The idea that something Must Be True because an Oxford don told a funny story about it on QI is hilarious, though. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656/64 "2011-11-01T09:25:33Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > The idea that something Must Be True because an Oxford don told a funny story about it on QI is hilarious, though. He’s professor of physics, not a comedian, relating a story about physics as fact, on a factual show (albeit a comedy show about facts). It would be be pretty crap on his part if it turns out not to be actually fact. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656/65 "2011-11-01T09:34:10Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > He’s professor of physics, not a comedian, relating a story about physics as fact, on a factual show (albeit a comedy show about facts). It would be be pretty crap on his part if it turns out not to be actually fact. Great Og on a pogo stick, man, let it go. As you just said, it’s a comedy show. Nobody gets invited on that show as a guest unless they have a reputation for being funny. And he wasn’t exactly relaying an incorrect fact about _physics_ he was telling a historical anecdote about humans. Do you seriously think that every Oxbridge don is so perfectly correct and proper and serious that they would not, on a frickin’ _comedy show_ tell an exaggerated and potentially apocryphal story about the army? Your post is naive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-military-top-brass-behind-the-gps-system-really-doubt-relativistic-effects/600656.md?page=3)