# Has a physical constant been inconstant?  Seeking followup on a year-old article.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-physical-constant-been-inconstant-seeking-followup-on-a-year-old-article/202776>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-physical-constant-been-inconstant-seeking-followup-on-a-year-old-article/202776 "2003-09-20T06:26:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-physical-constant-been-inconstant-seeking-followup-on-a-year-old-article/202776/1 "2003-09-20T06:26:05Z")

</div>

Said article being this:  
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1991223.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1991223.stm)

It’s been over a year since it appeared. Does anyone know if further observation falsified the slightly-changing constant possibility?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-physical-constant-been-inconstant-seeking-followup-on-a-year-old-article/202776/2 "2003-09-20T06:28:46Z")

</div>

[Was light faster in the past?](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0003CB11-6ED2-1E61-A98A809EC5880105)

Is this the sort of thing you were wondering about?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-physical-constant-been-inconstant-seeking-followup-on-a-year-old-article/202776/3 "2003-09-20T14:33:18Z")

</div>

This is an ongoing debate because of the extreme difficulty of getting accurate data. A very good guide to the whole subject is [The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega–The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe, by John D. Barrow](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375422218/qid=1064068801/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-7831893-3992664?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

Recommended if you want to understand the background of the articles like those mentioned which will undoubtedly continue regularly in the future until this is settled one way or the other.