"From Einstein's theory of gravity, that is his general relativity theory, we believe mass curves space and this can cause light to follow a curved path, " he told BBC News Online.
"This means that by watching what happens to the positions of the quasars on the sky as the gravitational field of Jupiter moves past their line-of-sight, the scientists can test other aspects of the general relativity theory, " says Professor Shanks.
In particle physics, sound-bite explanations are much harder: wave-particle duality, quantum mechanics, general relativity and string theory make good mathematical sense, or so I am told, but they generally defy translation into English.
It is notoriously hard to modify the equations of general relativity without damaging the theory beyond repair.
Einstein predicted the distortion of light in this way in 1915, as part of his general theory of relativity.
Einstein's general theory of relativity states that objects with mass cause a curvature in space-time, which we perceive as gravity.
The SKA will join the hunt for gravitational waves ripples in the structure of space predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Assuming this principle (without proving it) allowed Einstein to develop the general theory of relativity in 1916, and to describe gravity in purely geometric terms.
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We know that the general theory of relativity is compatible with the existence of space-times in which travel to the past or remote future is possible.
The structure remains the third largest steerable telescope in the world and plays a key role in global research on pulsating stars, testing extreme physics theories including Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Although Riemann, who died at the age of only 39, also laid the foundations in geometry for Einstein's general theory of relativity, his paper on prime sattracted little attention in the decades after it was first published.
One of his great achievements since then, together with mathematician Roger Penrose, has been to prove that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity means space and time has a beginning in the "Big Bang" and ends in black holes.
This exploits one of the predictions of Einstein's general theory of relativity: that the path of a beam of light (which is a straight line in empty space) is bent inwards by the gravity of a massive object.
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Instead of using Newton's theory of gravity to examine why fast-moving stars remain within their galaxies, the pair applied general relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity, to the problem.
Its fine-scale measurements will even permit scientists to conduct some strenuous tests of General Relativity - Einstein's theory of gravity.
The effect is a direct consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity which tells us that space is warped by the presence of mass.
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At the time Einstein proposed his Theory of General Relativity, it had not been observationally established that the universe was in a state of expansion.
Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity in 1916, offering a description of gravity, space and time that transformed how scientists understand the physical laws governing the known universe.
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The gravitational field between the two black holes was so strong that it had never been possible to test Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity in such an extreme situation.
But the same could have been said of the theory of general relativity, and yet satellite navigation, on which we all now depend, would be riddled with inaccuracies without corrections derived from it.
"Einstein's theory of general relativity tells us that mass bends space and time, so when light comes toward us through the Universe, if it passes some dark matter, its light gets bent and the image we see gets bent and distorted, " Dr Heymans told the meeting.
In any case, general relativity directly contradicts quantum mechanics, the other great physical theory of the 20th century, so more and more precise tests need to be carried out to find out what cracks might exist in either theory.
Even the slightest sliver of a difference would mean that general relativity is built on an approximation and that a deeper, more precise theory must exist.
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Roger Penrose, for example, has long been on record as arguing that it is quantum mechanics, not general relativity, that needs to be modified in order to successfully develop a grand unified theory.
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Having two candidates for a theory of everything is almost as upsetting to physicists as their inability to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity in the first place.
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