Einstein published his theory of Special Relativity in 1905 and his General Theory in 1915.
One of the predictions of the General theory, is that the Sun will displace the images of nearby stars by an amount;
displacementradian = 4GM⊙/c2r ≡ 1.75′′ r⊙/r
Where r⊙ is the radius of the Sun and r the radial distance from the centre of the Sun. On the other hand, assuming that the energy of light is subject to gravitation in the same way as ordinary mass, Newton’s theory, predicts half the displacement. While a third option was that there would be no displacement at all.
The graphic showing the deflection of starlight by the Sun is believed to have been compiled from a composite of two photographs taken at Sobral, it is similar to an illustration that appeared in The Illustrated London News on 22 November 1919. From Hutchinson’s Splendour of the Heavens (1923) where it is credited to E.N.A.
