Sir Arthur Eddington

British astrophysicist. One of the first to confirm the general theory of relativity.

[ Born: 1882 / Kendall, England. ]

[ Died: 1944 / Cambridge, England ]

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• Developed the “mass-luminosity” relation in astrology, showing that all stars behaved like ideal gases.
• Confirmed Einstein’s theory of general relativity by measuring the deflected light coming from stars during a solar eclipse – the deflection being caused by the sun’s gravitational pull
• Eddington worked extremely hard in the early part of the 20th century to advocate Einstein’s theory of General relativity in the English speaking world, during a time when german scientific theories were not in the public eye.
• In his later years, spent much effort trying to formulate a “fundamental theory” which would link relativity, quantum theory and gravitation

Trivia - Eddington wrote many books and gave lectures which were very popular among the public. His “infinite monkey theorem” suggested that if “an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters, they might write all the books in the British Museum”.

Image from iucaa.ernet.in