Einstein Publishes the General Theory of Relativity
Gravity is not a force but the shape of spacetime itself, and starlight bent by the Sun proves it
Quick facts
- Field equations submitted
- 25 November 1915
- Explained
- 43 arcsecond/century advance in Mercury's perihelion
- Predicted
- Bending of starlight by the Sun's gravity
- Confirmed
- 1919 solar eclipse expeditions
What happened
On 25 November 1915, Albert Einstein submitted his paper The Field Equations of Gravitation, giving the correct field equations of general relativity, a theory describing gravity not as a force acting across space but as the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy. Earlier that November, Einstein had already corrected an error in his own 1911 calculation of how much starlight passing near the Sun should bend, revising his predicted deflection upward. The theory also explained a long-standing puzzle in Mercury's orbit: MacTutor records that Einstein applied his theory of gravitation and discovered that the advance of 43 arcseconds per century in Mercury's perihelion, a discrepancy astronomers had been unable to explain for decades, was exactly accounted for without any need to postulate invisible moons or any other special hypothesis. The theory's prediction for starlight deflection was tested directly in 1919, when two British expeditions measured the bending of light during a solar eclipse and obtained results of 1.98 plus or minus 0.30 arcseconds and 1.61 plus or minus 0.30 arcseconds, confirming Einstein's prediction after many earlier failed attempts due to cloud, war, and other setbacks.
Why it matters
General relativity replaced Newton's gravity, unchanged for over two centuries, with a geometric theory of space and time that has since been confirmed to extraordinary precision. MacTutor notes that today relativity plays a role in many areas, cosmology, the big bang theory, and it underlies the physics of black holes, the expanding universe, and, a century later, the direct detection of gravitational waves.
How we know
Einstein's field equations were published in the proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in late 1915, and the theory's key early predictions, Mercury's perihelion advance and the 1919 eclipse deflection of starlight, were independently measured by astronomers using data and expeditions separate from Einstein's own calculations.
Sources
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews. General relativity · Primary source (author-declared)mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) · Primary source (author-declared)mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- Space Exploration → · General relativity underlies modern cosmology, black hole physics, and GPS satellite corrections; see the Space Exploration timeline for how these ideas connect to the space age.