Early Solar Deflection Numerical Estimate
Einstein calculated an early value for the deflection of starlight passing close to the Sun and proposed that a total solar eclipse could make the displacement observable.
Albert Einstein · Year
1911
Albert Einstein records dated 1911, drawn directly from the World History Database source collection.
First Solvay Conference
Participates in the first Solvay Conference, discussing radiation and quantum theory with leading physicists.
Freundlich Eclipse Test Discussions
Einstein encouraged astronomer Erwin Freundlich to pursue eclipse observations capable of testing the predicted gravitational bending of starlight near the Sun.
Gravitational Redshift Prediction
Derives the expectation that light climbing through a gravitational field should lose frequency, providing an early relativistic prediction of gravitational redshift.
Gravitational Time Dilation Prediction
Einstein argued that clocks deeper in a gravitational field should run more slowly than clocks at higher gravitational potential, giving gravity a measurable effect on elapsed time.
Prague Gravitation Research Programme
Uses his Prague professorship to intensify work on a relativistic theory of gravitation, concentrating on how acceleration, clocks and light behave in gravity.
Prague Paper on Gravitational Influence on Light
Einstein published a study of how gravitation affects light, deriving observable consequences from the equivalence principle while his full theory of curved spacetime was still incomplete.
Professor at Prague
Becomes professor of theoretical physics at the German University in Prague.
Solar Eclipse Relativity Test Proposal
Urges astronomers to test gravitational light bending during a total solar eclipse, linking his theoretical calculation directly to a possible astronomical observation.
Solar Light Deflection Prediction
Calculates that the Sun's gravitational field should bend passing starlight, turning the emerging gravitational theory into a prediction accessible to eclipse astronomy.
Light Deflection
Predicts that gravity should bend starlight and proposes a solar-eclipse test.