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it. “The complications of the theory of relativity are
altogether too much for my comprehension,” con-
fessed American astronomer George Ellery Hale,
in a letter that nonetheless celebrated the results
from the 1919 eclipse. Others looked for alterna-
tive explanations for the moving stars, clinging
to Newton’s vision of the universe.
But further eclipse observations continued to build
the case for Einstein. Lick astronomers confirmed
relativity again during a 1922 eclipse in Australia and
a 1923 eclipse in Mexico. Meanwhile, observations of
the star Sirius B seemed to support another predic-
tion, that the gravity of stars stretches the light waves
they emit.
By the end of the 1920s, relativity was on solid
footing. Eclipses continued to corroborate Einstein’s
predictions for decades, eventually eclipsed (so to
speak) by the advent of quasar observations. These
incredibly bright objects, at first mistaken for stars,
can send out powerful radio waves. Measurements
of how the sun bends those radio waves have con-
firmed relativity’s light-bending weirdness with a
high degree of certainty.
Even so, Eddington’s original experiment continues
to hold fascination. During the 2017 eclipse visible
in the United States, an amateur astronomer used a
$4,000 telescope to repeat the observation with far
greater precision, witnessing the same shift of the
stars that Eddington saw, albeit with different stars.
Other fans have hunted for artifacts from the 1919
expedition, with mixed results.
“The problem is that when you’re working at an
observatory, you tend to cannibalize equipment,” says
Robin Catchpole at the University of Cambridge’s
Institute of Astronomy. A lens that traveled to Brazil is
now part of a telescope in a British castle compound.
A mirrored device used to aim Eddington’s telescopes
wound up in Dublin. And as for the photographic
plates that actually captured the eclipse images, many
seem to have been destroyed or lost, says Catchpole.
Some may be packed up among thousands of uncata-
loged glass plates in a town in West England, like the
crates at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The legacy of Eddington’s plates, however, endures.
Relativity is now accepted by the scientific commu-
nity, and its many predictions continue to be tested
in wacky ways, from experiments that use atomic
clocks to observations of colliding neutron stars. (See
“Ripple Effect,” page 50.)
The media buzz around the 1919 eclipse may have
launched Einstein into superstardom. But the staying
power of his theory is what kept him there.^ DDevin Powell is a science writer living in San Francisco.
His work has appeared in The New York Times, Nature and
other publications, including The Best American Science
Writing anthology.the British expeditions have actually proved the light
deflection near the sun.”
On Nov. 6, Eddington and Dyson showed off their
results at a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the
Royal Astronomical Society in England. The press
had a field day, and the public went nuts.
“Revolution in Science,” the front page of The
Times of London proclaimed. “New Theory of the
Universe: Newtonian Ideas Overthrown.” The New
Yo r k Ti m e s followed suit with “Men of Science More
or Less Agog.”
While few people really understood Einstein’s new
theory, his views about everything from extrater-
restrial life on Mars (nonexistent) to Prohibition (no
opinion) wound up in the papers. Crowds greeted
him on a visit to Japan. Girls lined up to meet him
in the United States, chanting “Einstein, Einstein,
rah rah rah.” As a handsome young man, Einstein
had been popular with women, but that was nothing
compared with the effect he had on them after the
eclipse; at least one woman is said to have fainted
in his presence. As his stature grew, he found his
signature could reach even presidents.EINSTEIN, EINSTEIN, EINSTEIN
Of course, relativity did not spring, fully formed, from
Einstein’s mind alone. He had built on the previous
work of scientists, enlisted the help of mathematicians
and even faced competition from others hot on his
heels. But it was Einstein who would become the public
face of science; Einstein, whose name would become
synonymous with genius; Einstein, who regularly
appeared on lists of the most famous people in history.
He wasn’t entirely comfortable with this inter-
national celebrity. Enemies emerged at home, like
the right-wing anti-Semite Paul Weyland, who
held an anti-relativity rally at which Einstein was
accused of plagiarism.
And general relativity itself still wasn’t immediately
accepted. Some scientists had trouble understandingNews of general
relativity’s
confirmation spread
quickly (below),
making Einstein
an international
celebrity. High
school students
in San Diego even
presented him with
flowers (bottom)
upon a visit.