Timeline Of Gravitational Physics And Relativity

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Timeline Of Gravitational Physics And Relativity

1583 - Galileo Galilei induces the period relationship of a Pendulum from observation (according to later biographer).

1589 - Galileo Galilei invents a Hydrostatic Balance for measuring Specific Gravity .

1590 - Galileo Galilei formulates modified Aristotelean theory of motion (later retracted) based on Density rather than Weight of objects.

1602 - Galileo Galilei conducts experiments on pendulum motion.

1604 - Galileo Galilei conducts experiments with Inclined Plane s and induces the law of falling objects.

1607 - Galileo Galilei arrives a mathematical formulation of the law of falling objects based on his earlier experiments.

1608 - Galileo Galilei discovers the Parabolic arc of Projectile s through experiment.

1640 - Ismael Bullialdus suggests an inverse-square gravitational force law.

1665 - Isaac Newton introduces an inverse-square Universal Law Of Gravitation uniting terrestrial and celestial theories of motion and uses it to predict the orbit of the Moon and the parabolic arc of projectiles.

1684 - Isaac Newton proves that Planet s moving under an inverse-square force law will obey Kepler's Laws

1686 - Isaac Newton uses a fixed length Pendulum with weights of varying composition to test the Weak Equivalence Principle to 1 part in 1000

1798 - Henry Cavendish measures the Gravitational Constant

1846 - Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams , studying Uranus orbit, independently prove that another, farther planet must exist. Neptune was found at the predicted moment and position.

1855 - Leverrier observes a 35 arcsecond per century excess Precession of Mercury 's Orbit and attributes it to another planet, inside Mercury's orbit. The planet was never found. See Vulcan .

1876 - William Clifford suggests that the motion of matter may be due to changes in the geometry of space

1882 - Simon Newcomb observes a 43 arcsecond per century excess precession of Mercury's orbit

1887 - Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in Their Experiment do not detect the Ether drift

1889 - Loránd Eötvös uses a Torsion Balance to test the Weak Equivalence Principle to 1 part in one billion

1893 - Ernst Mach states Mach's Principle ; first constructive attack on the idea of Newtonian absolute space

1898 - Henri Poincaré states that simultaneity is relative

1904 - Henri Poincaré presents the principle of relativity for Electromagnetism

1905 - Albert Einstein completes his theory of Special Relativity and states the Law Of Mass-energy Conservation : E=mc²

1907 - Albert Einstein introduces the principle of equivalence of gravitation and inertia and uses it to predict the Gravitational Redshift

1915 - Albert Einstein completes his theory of General Relativity . The new theory perfectly matches Mercury 's strange motions that baffled Urbain Le Verrier .

1916 - Albert Einstein shows that the field equations of general relativity admit wavelike solutions

1918 - J. Lense and Hans Thirring find the gravitomagnetic precession of Gyroscope s in the equations of general relativity

1919 - Arthur Eddington leads a Solar Eclipse expedition which claims to detect gravitational deflection of Light by the Sun

1921 - Theodor Kaluza demonstrates that a five-dimensional version of Einstein's equations unifies Gravitation and Electromagnetism

1937 - Fritz Zwicky states that Galaxies could act as Gravitational Lens es

1937 - Albert Einstein, Leopold Infeld , and Banesh Hoffman show that the geodesic equations of general relativity can be deduced from its field equations

1957 - John Wheeler discusses the breakdown of classical general relativity near Singularities and the need for Quantum Gravity

1960 - Robert Pound and Glen Rebka test the gravitational redshift predicted by the equivalence principle to approximately 1%

1962 - Robert Dicke , Peter Roll , and R. Krotkov use a torsion fiber balance to test the weak equivalence principle to 2 parts in 100 billion

1964 - Irwin Shapiro predicts a Gravitational Time Delay of radiation travel as a test of general relativity

1965 - Joseph Weber puts the first Weber bar Gravitational Wave detector into operation

1968 - Irwin Shapiro presents the first detection of the Shapiro delay

1968 - Kenneth Nordtvedt studies a possible violation of the weak equivalence principle for self-gravitating bodies and proposes a new test of the weak equivalence principle based on observing the relative motion of the Earth and Moon in the Sun's gravitational field

1976 - Robert Vessot and Martin Levine use a Hydrogen Maser clock on a Scout D Rocket to test the gravitational redshift predicted by the equivalence principle to approximately 0.007%

1979 - Dennis Walsh , Robert Carswell , and Ray Weymann discover the gravitationally lensed Quasar Q0957+561

1982 - Joseph Taylor and Joel Weisberg show that the rate of energy loss from the binary Pulsar PSR1913+16 agrees with that predicted by the general relativistic quadrupole formula to within 5%

2002 - Edward Fomalont and Sergei Kopeikin showed that the Speed Of Gravity equals the Speed Of Light within the 20% Experimental Error , almost confirming one prediction of General Relativity about the causal ( Lorentz-invariant ) nature of the Gravitational Field .

SEE ALSO

Timeline Of Black Hole Physics