The gravitational deflection of light: From Newton to Einstein

Abstract Evidence of light bending due to gravitational effects is an important milestone in the history of science because measurements of light deflection in astronomical observations during the 1919 eclipse confirmed the value predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity in 1915. This had an extraordinary repercussion in the press, which led Einstein to worldwide recognition and to becoming the most famous scientist in the non-scientific media of the twentieth century. However, light deflection had been a matter of attention since Newton. This paper discusses the advances and calculations performed by Einstein's predecessors and details his trajectory in the development of relativity theory until the exact determination of the gravitational deflection of light.