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[[File:Hafele–Keating_experiment.jpg|thumb|right|Hafele and Keating aboard a commercial airliner, with two of the atomic clocks and a stewardess.]]
[[File:HP 5061A Cesium Beam Frequency Standard.JPG|thumb|right|One of the actual HP 5061A Cesium Beam atomic clock units used in the Hafele–Keating experiment]]
The '''Hafele–Keating experiment''' was a test of the [[theory of relativity]]. In October 1971, [[Joseph C. Hafele]], a physicist, and [[Richard E. Keating]], an astronomer, took four cesium-beam [[atomic clock]]s aboard commercial airliners. They flew twice around the world, first eastward, then westward, and compared the clocks against others that remained at the [[United States Naval Observatory]]. When reunited, the three sets of clocks were found to disagree with one another, and their differences were consistent with the predictions of special and general relativity.
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