# [SCI] General Relativity
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**General Relativity (GR)** (Einstein, 1915) is the geometric theory of gravitation: gravity is the curvature of four-dimensional spacetime caused by mass-energy.
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## Overview
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Einstein generalised special relativity to accelerating frames, guided by the equivalence principle (gravity and acceleration are locally indistinguishable). The Einstein field equations Gμν = 8πG/c⁴ Tμν relate spacetime curvature (Gμν) to matter-energy content (Tμν). GR predicted: light bending by gravity (confirmed 1919, Eddington); the precession of Mercury's perihelion (already observed); gravitational time dilation; the expansion of the universe; gravitational waves; and black holes.
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GPS satellites require corrections for both special relativistic (moving clocks run slow) and general relativistic (clocks run faster at altitude) effects — a direct technological consequence of GR tested daily.
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## Key Figures & Recognition
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- **Albert Einstein** (1879–1955): General relativity, 1915. **Nobel Prize 1921**.
- **Karl Schwarzschild** (1873–1916): Exact black hole solution, 1916 (from the trenches of WWI).
- **Roger Penrose** (1931–): Mathematical structure of GR, black hole singularities. **Nobel Prize 2020**.
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## Seminal Papers
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- Einstein, A. ["Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation." *Sitzungsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss.* (1915)](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-19510-8_9)
- Schwarzschild, K. "Über das Gravitationsfeld eines Massenpunktes." *Sitzungsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss.* (1916).
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# Parents
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* [SCI] Special Relativity⏎