Arthur Stanley Eddington Biography

The future astrophysicist and relativity advocate is born.

Birth of Arthur Eddington

Arthur Stanley Eddington is born in Kendal, Westmorland.

Nominated to the post of chief assistant to the Astronomer Royal at the Royal Greenwich Observatory

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Awarded the Royal Societys Royal Medal

Awarded the Royal Societys Royal Medal

Arthur Eddington and Astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson organized two expeditions to observe a solar eclipse in 1919 to make the first empirical test of Einsteins theory.

Arthur Eddington leads a solar eclipse expedition which claims to detect gravitational deflection of light by the Sun.

Observes light bending during a solar eclipse by the gravitational pull of the Sun.

the measurement of the deflection of light by the suns gravitational field.

Eddington leads eclipse observations that support Einsteins prediction of starlight deflection

According to the theory of general relativity, stars with light rays that passed near the Sun would appear to have been slightly shifted because their light had been curved by its gravitational field.

During the eclipse, he took pictures of the stars in the region around the Sun.

Eddington travelled to the island of Principe near Africa to watch the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919.

This effect is noticeable only during eclipses, since otherwise the Suns brightness obscures the affected stars.

Publication of "Mathematica Theory Of Relativity"

Eddington publishes influential expositions that spread general relativity among English speaking scientists

The larger a star the more luminous, mass can be found if luminosity is known. Discovers the mass-luminosity relation for stars

Eddingtons theory appeared in mature form in 1926 as The Internal Constitution of the Stars, which became an important text for training an entire generation of astrophysicists

Eddingtons theory appeared in mature form in 1926 as The Internal Constitution of the Stars, which became an important text for training an entire generation of astrophysicists

Eddington discusses relativistic world models and helps bring expanding universe ideas into wider debate

Publication of "The Expanding Universe"

Death of Arthur Eddington

Publication of "Fundemental Theory"