The general-relativity effect in which spacetime curvature causes a gyroscope to precess is the geodetic effect.
Also called geodetic precession or de Sitter precession, it occurs when a gyroscope moves through curved spacetime, such as while orbiting Earth. The gyroscope tries to preserve its orientation by parallel transport, but curved geometry causes that orientation to shift relative to distant stars or an Earth-fixed direction.
Dutch astronomer Willem de Sitter predicted the effect in 1916 while studying relativistic corrections to the Earth–Moon system. Jan Schouten and Adriaan Fokker later extended the theoretical work. Gravity Probe B measured the tilt of gyroscopes in orbit and confirmed the prediction to better than roughly 0.5 percent.
The geodetic effect is often confused with frame dragging, or Lense–Thirring precession. Geodetic precession arises from the curvature produced by a central mass, even if that mass is not rotating. Frame dragging instead depends on the rotation of the central body. Thomas precession is a distinct kinematic effect associated with changing inertial frames.