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Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Nature Physics 15, 415 (2019) -- Published: 02 May 2019

General relativity was first experimentally verified in 1919. On the centennial of this occasion, we celebrate the scientific progress fuelled by subsequent efforts at verifying its predictions, from time dilation to the observation of the shadow of a black hole.

When we think back to the beginnings of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, we consider the measurements obtained during the solar eclipse in 1919 as rock-solid proof. However, things weren’t as clear cut back then. In 1921, the editorial introducing the special issue on general relativity in Nature (https://go.nature.com/2uZCo4E) betrayed a certain level of caution: “In two cases predicted phenomena for which no satisfactory alternative explanation is forthcoming have been confirmed by observation, and the third is still a subject of inquiry.”

 

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