Roger
on September 19, 2025
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📝 One wrote the theory. The other proved it true. 🌌
#TBT #ThrowbackThursday
This photograph dates to the years after World War I and captures a historic meeting between two giants of science: Albert Einstein (left) and Sir Arthur Eddington (right).
Though they had corresponded earlier, this was their first encounter in person—a moment that marked the union of theory and observation in one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.
Einstein had published his general theory of relativity in 1915, proposing that gravity was not a force, but the warping of spacetime by mass. One of its bold predictions was that light from distant stars would bend when passing near a massive object like the Sun. But proving this would require a total solar eclipse.
In 1919, Eddington led an expedition to the island of Príncipe off the coast of West Africa, while a second team went to Brazil. Their goal: photograph background stars near the eclipsed Sun. Eddington’s team succeeded — and the data showed that the starlight had shifted precisely as Einstein had predicted.
The results made headlines worldwide. Newton’s model of gravity had reigned for centuries, but now, Einstein’s vision of a curved universe took center stage. This photograph, then, is more than just a meeting of minds — it marks the moment Einstein’s radical ideas stepped out of the shadows and into global acceptance, thanks to Eddington’s courage, precision, and belief in the power of reasoned inquiry.
📸 Photographed at the University of Cambridge Observatory, UK
Image: Royal Astronomical Society / Science Photo Library
Dimension: 953 x 1023
File Size: 122.33 Kb
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Jerry Jones
Do you think they discussed the flat earth?
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September 19, 2025
Jerry Jones
It only makes sense that since the sun is a flat disk, it would have a little more force around the outside edges. The light from those little bitty stars stuck on the dome could be influenced by the pull of the force off the edge of the sun. I am kind of confused though, how a little bitty star c... View More
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September 19, 2025
Roger
Roger replied - 1 reply