Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity

Abstract

In November 1915 Albert Einstein explained a radically new world view to the Prussian Academy of Sciences with the General Theory of Relativity. Accordingly, masses and rays of light do not merely move through space and time - space and time themselves merge into a structure that constantly curves and changes. Heavy bodies distort their geometry, even light then runs on curved tracks. Extreme consequences are such exotic objects as black holes, the researchers have not understood until today, or gravitational waves whose direct detection still failed. And how Einstein's cosmos could be reconciled with the equations of quantum physics - this will probably be one of the greatest tasks of theoretical physics of the current century.