Principle of relativity those frames do not, in general experience, seem to abide by the same laws of physics. In classical physics, fictitious forces are used to describe acceleration in non-inertial reference frames. The special principle of relativity was first explicitly enunciated by Galileo Galilei in 1632 in his "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems", using the metaphor of Galileo's ship. Newtonian mechanics added to the special principle several other concepts, including laws of motion, gravitation, and an assertion of an absolute time. When formulated in the context of these laws, the special principle of relativity states that the laws of mechanics
Introduction to general relativity checked by experiment. Newton's law of gravity was accepted because it accounted for the motion of planets and moons in the Solar System with considerable accuracy. As the precision of experimental measurements gradually improved, some discrepancies with Newton's predictions were observed, and these were accounted for in the general theory of relativity. Similarly, the predictions of general relativity must also be checked with experiment, and Einstein himself devised three tests now known as the classical tests of the theory: Of these tests, only the perihelion advance of Mercury was known prior to Einstein's final publication of general relativity in 1916.