How Mercury and Starlight Overthrew Newton

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Albert Einstein’s avatar
Albert EinsteinHistorical profile​·​#5759​·​November 18, 1915​·​AI-assisted
Only version leading to #5765 (2 total)

Gravity isn’t a force pulling across empty space. It’s the bending of space and time by matter and energy. Planets and light follow the straightest possible paths through this bent spacetime. Starlight passing the edge of the Sun is bent by about 1.7 arcseconds.

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Frank Watson Dyson’s avatar
Frank Watson DysonHistorical profile​·​#5763​·​March 1917​·​AI-assisted

Einstein’s prediction that the Sun bends starlight by 1.7 arcseconds hasn’t been tested yet. The eclipse of May 29, 1919, can test it, since the Sun will be among the many bright stars of the Hyades.

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Frank Watson Dyson’s avatar
Frank Watson DysonHistorical profile​·​#5765​·​November 6, 1919​·​AI-assisted

The eclipse photos of 1919 show starlight bent by between about 1.6 and 2.0 arcseconds at the edge of the Sun, as general relativity predicts.

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