[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by BigGayAl

Later, as the theory became accepted, especially after the dramatic confirmation in 1919, physicists stressed that it had been empirically proved."

Oh look it was being accepted before 1919.

"Relativity in Great Britain

Up until 1919, many British scientists opposed relativity theory, largely because they believed in the existence of an ether. It was Sir Arthur Eddington, Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, who pushed British scientists to discuss Einstein’s theories. In 1918 ..."

Ah yes, the famous "many". Surely a clear indication that nobody believed him and he was ridiculed at the time.

"The French Response

At the very least, the reception of relativity in France can be described as “mixed”. Within the scientific community as a whole, the concepts of relativity made slow headway and initially encountered either indifference or hostility ........ Almost overnight Einstein became an international celebrity and Einstein’s fame was such that the opposition to his theories was considerably reduced. Throughout the 1920’s relativity theory was established in Britain."

I like how the French response took place in Britain.

"Canada:

... Between 1911 and 1916 there were a few discussions in the journal concerning relativity theory but no mention of Einstein by name until 1916. Over the next few years a number of hostile letters were published in the journal. ..."

I'm going to post the whole quote in its full context here.

Originally Posted by That article you've quoted so hilariously selectively

In Canada, Einstein’s 1905 paper on special relativity received very little attention. But this is no surprise since Canada was a scientific backwater during the period of Einstein’s critical work. Canada’s astronomical community numbered about a dozen professionals and there was only one observatory of note, the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa. There was one department of astronomy in Canada at the University of Toronto that consisted of one professor. There was a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada with some hundreds of members, many amateurs, and a journal. Through the journal the progress of Einstein’s theory became known to astronomically-literate Canadians. Between 1911 and 1916 there were a few discussions in the journal concerning relativity theory but no mention of Einstein by name until 1916. Over the next few years a number of hostile letters were published in the journal.

Seriously, I know special and general relativity were initially coldly received in many places. However this is not an exception to the rule in terms of paradigmatic changes in physics over the centuries. Einstein was certainly not almost universally dismissed until 1919 as you claim. And posting a few pages from an introduction to relativity undergrad course proves about as much as me slapping my dick on my keyboard.

Reposting your original comment

Einstein was totally ignored, and I dare say ridiculed about his hypothesis. I'll be amazed if he wasn't - as nice as the maths & hypothesis was, it was a little weird at the time.

Then was it 1919? or sometime, there was a solar eclipse - Einstein proven right, relativity replaces (or supersedes) the existing laws of physics.

I'd like for you, if you're going to continue this line to find someone that claims that Einstein was totally ignored, or ridiculed, prior to 1919. And then once the Eddington experiment happened (you can actually work out from the fact that it's not called the Einstein experiment that someone else found general relativity credible) relativity went from being ridiculed to supplementing (replacing is a bad word) Newtonian physics. Nothing about that is true. Special and general relativity initially got little time, for a variety of reasons, from most people. Got more as the years went on. Got a lot more after the Eddington experiment obviously but wasn't universally accepted until well after that.