Was Einstein Right? Putting General Relativity to the Test

by Clifford M. Will

This book is an examination of the way in which Einstein's general theory of relativity - the theory of gravitation and of space-time, has held up under today's exacting scrutiny of planetary probes, radio astronomy, atomic clocks and electronic super-computers. Clifford M. Will, who has devoted two decades to this question, brings to the general reader a full account of the people, ideas and machines that have put Einstein's theory to the test, covering tests from about 1960 to check the predictions of general relativity accurately and aims to find new predictions to check. He tells the story of relativity from the first faint photographs in 1919 confirming Einstein's prediction of the bending of starlight in the sun's gravitational field, to the design of the delicate gyroscopes now being prepared for a critical space shuttle experiment in the 1990s.

Genres: Physics, Science, Nonfiction, Mathematics

274 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1986

Reviews

[Ami Iida]

It's not written about observation of gravity wave yet.

[Unai]

Interesante al hablar de todo el contexto histórico tras el desarrollo de GR, los retos que la pusieron a prueba, como las teorías alternativas que aparecieron. Aburrido en los detalles más técnicos de los experimentos.

[Ford Miller]

Good look into the science on a layman level.

[Tue Le]

Clifford Will is a theoretical physicist deeply interested in experimental tests of general relativity and other theories of gravity. With this book, he shared the progress made in the field up to 1986, when it was published. Unsurprisingly, then, certain aspects of the book have become outdated by the time I read this in 2026. For example, while the discovery of the Hulse-Taylor pulsar remains a hallmark in the history of gravitational physics because it provided some indirect evidence for gravitational waves, gravitational waves have been directly detected on numerous occasions, so much so that gravitational-wave astronomy has officially become a science with its own catalog of events to analyze.

Despite these caveats, this book remains an excellent guide to the subject.

[Kam Yung Soh]

An impressive book that is still relevant today about an important theory. If you need a primer on the Principle of Equivalence and Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, this is still the book to read.

The book carefully separates between the principle of equivalence from Einstein's actual theory, then goes on to explain the various experiments conducted to prove or disprove General Relativity as well as other theories of gravity.

In the end, General Relativity stands as the best theory of gravity we know of.

[Readerrunner]

enjoyable read. i really like the history/people part of the book. most of the concepts are hard to grok, but i've found out that rereading some of the chapters helps.

also, 2nd edition(last one?) is little dated (not in a big way though) for example, that gyroscope experiment was completed (look it up on the wiki: "gravity probe b") and superconducting super collider in texas was never built.

[Joseph]

An old favorite, but until I read the Elegant Universe, I never realized that I really didn't understand relativity from this book. Still, this is a great depiction for the layperson of the way general relativity was tested.

[هادی امینی]

یک کتاب فوق‌العاده برای آشنایی اولیه با نظریه نسبیت انیشتین و آزمایشهای انجام شده برای بررسی صحت اون. با وجود اینکه درباره فیزیک و نظریه پیچیده نسبیت هست، اما خود کتاب درگیر پیچیدگی نشده و طوری نوشته شده که با یک کمی آشنایی با مفاهیم فیزیک میشه خوند و ازش لذت برد

[Mike Pouy]

OK, it's not for everyone, but if you've ever wondered about Einstein's theories this book explains them as well as anything else I've read.

[Joe]

Fun read, if you're into relativity, or quantum mechanics.

[Tlsmith]

The best popular science book I have ever read. Period.

[Mahsa Asadi.Anar]

Actully it was an advanced book for type 2 readers