Knowra Arthur Eddington Arthur Eddington Arthur Eddington was an English astronomer and physicist who developed influential accounts of stellar structure and helped publicize and test Einstein’s general relativity.
1919 solar eclipse : A total solar eclipse observed on 29 May 1919, whose star photographs were used to test gravitational light deflection. Eddington led one of the expeditions that measured starlight positions during totality.
Stellar structure : The arrangement and physical state of a star’s interior, including its pressure, temperature, density, and energy flow. Eddington helped establish a quantitative theory for how stars maintain their structure.
University of Cambridge : A collegiate research university in Cambridge, England, founded in 1209. Eddington studied and later held the Plumian Professorship of Astronomy there.
Albert Einstein : A German-born theoretical physicist who developed special and general relativity. Eddington became one of the leading English-speaking interpreters and defenders of Einstein’s relativity.
Newtonian gravity : A theory of gravity in which masses attract through a force described by Newton’s laws. The eclipse test compared its predicted light deflection with general relativity’s larger prediction.
General relativity : Einstein’s theory of gravity, in which matter and energy shape spacetime and free-falling bodies follow its geometry. The eclipse results brought Eddington’s observations into the public debate over Einstein’s theory.
Radiative transfer : The transport of energy by electromagnetic radiation through matter, accounting for emission, absorption, and scattering. Radiation carries energy outward through much of a star’s interior in Eddington’s models.
Greenwich Observatory : The historic astronomical observatory in London established by Charles II in 1675. Eddington became its chief assistant before returning to Cambridge as an astronomer.
Frank Dyson : An English astronomer who served as Astronomer Royal from 1910 to 1933. Dyson organized the 1919 eclipse expeditions with Eddington.
Chandrasekhar limit : The maximum mass, about 1.4 solar masses, for a stable white dwarf supported by electron degeneracy pressure. Eddington rejected Chandrasekhar’s conclusion that heavier stellar remnants must collapse.
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