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1889 – Loránd Eötvös uses a torsion balance to test the weak equivalence principle to 1 part in one billion. [25] 1893 – Ernst Mach states Mach's principle; first constructive attack on the idea of Newtonian absolute space. 1898 – Henri Poincaré states that simultaneity is relative.
- From Aristotle to Newton: Early Scientific History of Gravity
- Relativity Theory: Breakthroughs in The History of Gravity
- From Gravitational Lensing to Waves: Modern Scientific History of Gravity
Around 330 BCE: The Aristotelian Four Elements
Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle argued that the four elements—air, earth, fire, and water—have a natural position or place in which they travel. He further argued that objects heavier than others or those containing more earth would fall toward the ground faster, and their speed would increase as they near their natural place.
1589: Leaning Tower of Pisa Experiment by Galileo
A biography by Vincenzo Viviani claimed that his mentor, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, performed an experiment that involved dropping two spheres of different masses from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that the time of the descent of the two objects is independent of their mass. This experiment supposedly contradicted the argument of Aristotle that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. However, it is essential to take note that it remains unclear whether Galileo, in fact...
1687: Newtonian Apple and the Theory of Gravitation
In his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton provided one of the most significant contributions to the theory of gravity. He argued that the orbit of the moon depended on the same type of force that causes an apple to fall on Earth. Furthermore, this argument also proposed the inverse-square law of universal gravitation. This law claims that the magnitude of the force decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the center of the Earth. The Newtonian...
1905: Special Relativity Theory of Einstein
Albert Einstein introduced the theory of special relativity that modified the Newtonian theory of universal gravitation. He initially wanted to describe gravity in a way that was independent of the motions of observers and the coordinates chosen to label events. The special relativity theory argues that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers. Furthermore, it also argues that the speed of light within a vacuum is the same regardless of the speed at which an observe...
1907: Einstein and the Gravitational Redshift
While developing another relativity theory that incorporates gravity in the equation, Einstein also proposed the wavelength of light coming from atoms trapped in a strong gravitational field stretches or lengthens as it tries to escape the force of gravity. This lengthening of light wavelength results in the display of the electromagnetic spectrum. The longer wavelength shifts the photon to the red end of the spectrum. The described lengthening of light wavelength paved the way for the unders...
1915: General Relativity Theory of Einstein
In his attempt to describe gravitationexclusively within the geometrical concept of the space-time continuum, Einstein came up with the general relativity theory. This theory argues that gravity affects all forms of matter and energy, all of which move in spacetime. Massive objects cause a distortion in spacetime, and such is felt as gravity. Einstein successfully generalized the special relativity theory and the Newtonian theory of universal gravitation. The theory of general relativity prov...
1918: Predicting Frame Dragging
Austrian physicists Josef Lense and Hans Thirring used the general relativity theory as a framework for predicting the Lense-Thirring effect or frame dragging. They theorized that the rotation of a massive object in space would drag spacetime around it. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a project called Gravity Probe B to measure the spacetime curvature near the Earth. Using a probe that gyroscopes that rotated slightly over time due to the underlying spacetime, resea...
1919: Observing Gravitational Lensing
Observers witnesses during a total solar eclipse in May 1919 that stars near the sun seemed slightly out of position. This seemed to indicate that the light was bending due to the mass of the sun. Nonetheless, this was the first observation of gravitational lensing—the bending of light around a massive object allowing observers to view objects behind it. Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky further predicted in 1937 that galaxy clusters could act as gravitational lenses. In other words, the light co...
1952: Measuring and Confirming Gravitational Redshift
American astronomer Walter Sydney Adams observed and analyzed the light emitted from the surface of massive stars. His examination resulted in the detection of lengthening of light wavelength, particularly the detection of red light. This was similar to the prediction made by Einstein. Robert Pound and Glen Rebka performed an experiment in 1959 that involved confirming the existence of gravitational redshift. Doing so required measuring the redshift in spectral lines using Iron-57 gamma sourc...
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Feb 12, 2016 · Gravitational lensing is the bending of light around massive objects, such as a black hole, allowing us to view objects that lie behind it. During a total solar eclipse in May 1919, stars near the ...
ESA's LISA Pathfinder, a technology-demonstration mission that will pave the way for future observatories of gravitational waves in space, takes its place in the history of great physics experiments investigating the nature of gravity. In the modern era (from about 1500 onwards), the scientific investigation of gravity began with Galileo Galilei.
1915. General Theory of Relativity - A theory invented by Albert Einstein which describes gravitational forces in terms of the curvature in space caused by the presence of mass. The fundamental principle of general relativity asserts that accelerated reference frames and reference frames in gravitation fields are equivalent.
Jun 25, 2018 · Abstract. The recent discovery of gravitational waves is often seen as the confirmation of a prediction Einstein made one century ago. We argue instead that only after conceptual advances in ...
General relativity is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915, with contributions by many others after 1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational attraction between masses results from the warping of space and time by those masses. Before the advent of general relativity, Newton ...
