  In the post-Maxwellian era, sensing that the tide of discoveries in
electromagnetim indicated a decline of the mechanical view, Einstein replaced
Newton's three absolutes -- space, time and mass, with a single one, the
velocity of light. The magnitude of the velocity of light was first determined
and proven to be finite independently by Ole Romer and Bradley in the
eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Fizeau carried out the first
successful measurement of the speed of light using an earthbound apparatus.
Thereafter, many earthbound experiments were conducted for its determination
till 1983, when its magnitude was frozen at a fixed value after it was
determined up to an accuracy level of a fraction of a meter per second.
Einstein considered the speed of light derived from terrestrial experiments, to
be the limiting speed of all natural phenomena. Einstein stated in connection
with his general relativity theory that light rays could curve only when the
velocity of propagation of light varies with position. Experiments have been
conducted to prove the phenomenon of light deflection to higher and higher
accuracy levels, but none so far to determine the speed of light at locations
closer to the sun. To verify some essential aspects of general relativity, NASA
had commendably planned many costly experiments. Hence, NASA can now be
expected to expeditiously plan and execute the low cost experiment proposed
here, so as to conclusively verify the effect of the solar gravitational field
on the speed of light, as regards the important predictions of Einstein's
theory of gravitation and of its remodeled form -- the Remodeled Relativity
Theory, which retained and incorporated only experimentally proven concepts and
principles.
