History of General Relativity - Testing The Theory

Testing The Theory

The perihelion precession of Mercury was the first evidence that general relativity is correct. Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington's 1919 expedition in which he confirmed Einstein's prediction for the deflection of light by the Sun during the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 helped to cement the status of general relativity as a likely true theory. Since then many observations have confirmed the correctness of general relativity. These include studies of binary pulsars, observations of radio signals passing the limb of the Sun, and even the GPS system.

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