Einstein Throws Newton a CurveNewspaper article
Credit: New York Times November 10, 1919
In 1919 Einstein, already well-known among physicists, achieved worldwide popular fame. His theory of relativity had enabled him to predict the precise degree of deflection by the sun of light from distant stars during a solar eclipse on May 29; photographs from two British expeditions had provided experimental proof; and on November 6, scientists reported the results to an extraordinary joint meeting in London of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. Experts in Newton’s homeland having acknowledged the overthrow of Newton’s system, the London Times broke the story on November 7, 1919, followed by the New York Times on November 10. From that point forward Einstein represented the replacement of classical Newtonian physics by modern, relative, interrelated concepts of time, space, energy, and mass.