Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR) provides the best available description of gravity. The recent detection of gravitational waves and the first picture of a black hole have provided spectacular confirmations of GR, as well as arousing substantial interest in topics related to gravitation. However, to understand present and future discoveries, it is convenient to look to the past, to the classical tests of GR, namely, the deflection of light by the Sun, the perihelion precession of Mercury, and the gravitational redshift of light. The objective of this work is to offer a non-technical introduction to the classical tests of GR. In this first part of the work, some basic concepts of relativity are introduced and the principle of equivalence is analysed. The second part of the article examines the classical tests.

中文翻译：

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广义相对论的经典测验I：回顾过去了解现在

爱因斯坦的广义相对论（GR）提供了关于重力的最佳可用描述。最近检测到的引力波和黑洞的第一张图片为GR提供了引人注目的证实，也引起了人们对与引力有关的话题的浓厚兴趣。但是，要了解当前和将来的发现，可以很方便地回顾过去，对GR的经典测试，即太阳对光的偏转，水星的近日点进动和光的引力红移。这项工作的目的是为GR的经典测试提供非技术性的介绍。在工作的第一部分中，介绍了相对论的一些基本概念，并分析了等效原理。本文的第二部分检查了经典测试。