relativity

113d

#OTD in 1919.

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.

The Eddington experiment was organised by the astronomers Frank Watson Dyson & Arthur Stanley Eddington in 1919. The observations were of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 and were carried out by two expeditions which aim was to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment

#science #relativity #astronomy

One of Eddington's photographs of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, presented in his 1920 paper announcing its success, confirming Einstein's theory that light "bends".

Frank Watson Dyson / Arthur Eddington / Charles Rundle Davidson - F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson (1920). "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: 332. ISSN 1364-503X.

From the report of Sir Arthur Eddington on the expedition to verify Albert Einstein's prediction of the bending of light around the sun. In Plate 1 is given a half-tone reproduction of one of the negatives taken with the 4-inch lens at Sobral. This shows the position of the stars, and, as far as possible in a reproduction of this kind, the character of the images, as there has been no retouching. A number of photographic prints have been made and applications for these from astronomers, who wish to assure themselves of the quality of the photographs, will be considered as as far as possible acceded to.

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