General Relativity

The theory of relativity has a part called "special" and a part called "general"; the latter includes the former and is Einstein's generalization of the Newtonian law of gravity. It applies to all phenomena, but almost all phenomena for which Einstein's predictions differ from Newton's are astronomical ones. The three originally suggested (1916) are:

1. the gravitational deflection of starlight

2. the gravitational red-shift

3. the precession of the perihelion of Mercury

A brief description of each follows.