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's law of universal gravitation had been accepted for more than two hundred years as a valid description of the gravitational force between masses, even though Newton himself did not regard the theory as the final word on the nature of gravity. Within a century of Newton's formulation, careful astronomical observation revealed unexplainable differences between the theory and the observations. Under Newton's model, gravity was the result of an attractive force between massive objects. Although even Newton was bothered by the unknown nature of that force, the basic framework was extremely successful at describing motion.
However, experiments and observations show that Einstein's description accounts for several effects that are unexplained by Newton's law, such as minute anomalies in the orbits of Mercury and other planets. General relativity also predicts novel effects of gravity, such as gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and an effect of gravity on time known as gravitational time dilation. Many of these predictions have been confirmed by experiment or observation, while others are the subject of ongoing research.
General relativity has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding of black holes, regions of space where gravitational attraction is so strong that not even light can escape. Their strong gravity is thought to be responsible for the intense radiation emitted by certain types of astronomical objects (such as active galactic nuclei or microquasars). General relativity is also part of the framework of the standard Big Bang model of cosmology.
and 25 Related for: History of general relativity information
Generalrelativity is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915, with contributions by many others after 1915...
Generalrelativity is a theory of gravitation developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915. The theory ofgeneralrelativity says that the observed...
The theory ofrelativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and generalrelativity, proposed...
Tests ofgeneralrelativity serve to establish observational evidence for the theory ofgeneralrelativity. The first three tests, proposed by Albert Einstein...
framework of special relativity the Maxwell equations have the same form in all inertial frames of reference. In the framework ofgeneralrelativity the Maxwell...
The historyof special relativity consists of many theoretical results and empirical findings obtained by Albert A. Michelson, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri...
theory ofgeneralrelativity, various mathematical structures and techniques are utilized. The main tools used in this geometrical theory of gravitation...
Einstein's discovery of the gravitational field equations ofgeneralrelativity and David Hilbert's almost simultaneous derivation of the theory using an...
to generalrelativity are physical theories that attempt to describe the phenomenon of gravitation in competition with Einstein's theory ofgeneral relativity...
In generalrelativity, a geodesic generalizes the notion of a "straight line" to curved spacetime. Importantly, the world line of a particle free from...
as the Big Bang and black holes. He discusses two major theories, generalrelativity and quantum mechanics, that modern scientists use to describe the...
The mathematics ofgeneralrelativity is complicated. In Newton's theories of motion, an object's length and the rate at which time passes remain constant...
concept of mass in generalrelativity (GR) is more subtle to define than the concept of mass in special relativity. In fact, generalrelativity does not...
GeneralRelativity and Gravitation include public outreach through teaching and public understanding, as well as disseminate the historyofgeneral relativity...
propagation of electromagnetic or gravitational forces. Since the development of special relativity, theories using a substantial aether fell out of use in...
The following is a timeline of gravitational physics and generalrelativity. 3rd century B.C. – Aristarchus of Samos proposes the heliocentric model. 1543...
Numerical relativity is one of the branches ofgeneralrelativity that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems. To this end...
This is a dynamic list of persons who have made major contributions to the (mainstream) development ofgeneralrelativity, as acknowledged by standard...
In the general theory ofrelativity, the Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as Einstein's equations) relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution...
In physics, the special theory ofrelativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between space and time. In Albert...
outline of the historyof Einstein's relativistic ether concept", in Jean Eisenstaedt; Anne J. Kox (eds.), Studies in the historyofgeneralrelativity, vol...
overview of his theory ofrelativity and is his only book that provides an accessible overview of the physics and mathematics ofgeneralrelativity. Einstein...
The idea of linguistic relativity, known also as the Whorf hypothesis, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (/səˌpɪər ˈhwɔːrf/ sə-PEER WHORF), or Whorfianism, is...