Back Gravitasielens Afrikaans عدسة الجاذبية Arabic Lente gravitacional AST Гравітацыйная лінза Byelorussian Гравитационна леща Bulgarian মহাকর্ষীয় পরকলা Bengali/Bangla Ferenn c'hravitadurel Breton Lent gravitatòria Catalan Gravitační čočka Czech Гравитацилле линза CV
A gravitational lens is matter, such as a cluster of galaxies or a point particle, that bends light from a distant source as it travels toward an observer. The amount of gravitational lensing is described by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. If light is treated as corpuscles travelling at the speed of light, Newtonian physics also predicts the bending of light, but only half of that predicted by general relativity. Orest Khvolson (1924) and Frantisek Link (1936) are generally credited with being the first to discuss the effect in print, but it is more commonly associated with Einstein, who made unpublished calculations on it in 1912 and published an article on the subject in 1936. In 1937, Fritz Zwicky posited that galaxy clusters could act as gravitational lenses, a claim confirmed in 1979 by observation of the Twin QSO SBS 0957+561.