Abstract
The famous eclipse expedition of 1919 to Sobral, Brazil, and the island of Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea, led by Dyson, Eddington and Davidson was a turning point in the history of relativity, not only because of its importance as a test of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, but also because of the intense public interest which was aroused by the success of the expedition. The dramatic sequence of events which occurred is reviewed, as well as the long-term impact of its success. The gravitational bending of electromagnetic waves by massive bodies is a subject of the greatest importance for contemporary and future astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Examples of the potential impact of this key tool of modern observational astronomy are presented. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
Highlights
Bending space–time: a commentary on Dyson, Eddington and Davidson (1920) ‘A determination of the deflection of light by the Sun’s gravitational field’
The famous eclipse expedition of 1919 to Sobral, Brazil, and the island of Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea, led by Dyson, Eddington and Davidson was a turning point in the history of relativity, because of its importance as a test of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and because of the intense public interest which was aroused by the success of the expedition
The gravitational bending of electromagnetic waves by massive bodies is a subject of the greatest importance for contemporary and future astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology
Summary
In a feat of technical virtuosity, Einstein showed in November 1915 that the advance of the perihelion of Mercury expected according to the General Theory of Relativity amounted to 43 arcsec per century, a value in excellent agreement with the present best estimates. This effect is a direct result of the distortion of space–time in the vicinity of the Sun. This effect is a direct result of the distortion of space–time in the vicinity of the Sun This prediction resulted in the famous eclipse expedition of 1919 led by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Crommelin, under the overall direction of the Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson
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