The Solar Eclipse That Made Albert Einstein a Science Celebrity In February 1919, two teams of astronomers from the Greenwich and Cambridge observatories set out for Sobral Brazil, and Principe (an island off the coast of Africa), respectively with sophisticated equipment that would allow them to photograph a solar eclipse as it cut across South America,the Atlantic Ocean, and Africa on May 29. The purpose of the expeditions, arranged by Frank Dyson of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and Arthur Eddington of Cambridge University, was to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, which had been published in 1915 and was still regarded with skepticism by many scientists. Eclipse, in astronomy, is complete or partial obscuring of a celestial body by another. An eclipse occurs when three celestial objects become aligned.From the perspective of a person on Earth, the Sun is eclipsed when the Moon comes between it and Earth, and the Moon is eclipsed when it moves into the shadow of Earth cast by the Sun. Eclipses of natural satellites (moons) or of spacecraft orbiting or flying past a planet occur as the bodies move into the planet's shadow. In 1919, the eclipse presented a rare chance to verify one of the essential consequences of general relativity, the bending of light by gravity. Einstein's theory predicted that rays of light passing near a massive body in space would be visibly bent as they followed the curve in space-time created by the body's mass. In the case of a ray of light originating from distant star and passing near the edge of the Sun, Einstein calculated d adeflection of about 1.75 arc seconds YAL Under normal conditions, Einstein's prediction was impossible tO test, for the simple reason that sunlight drowns out the light from nearby stars, making them invisible to observers on Earth. The darkness of an eclipse, though, would allow the astronomers to observe and photograph the field of stars around the Sun. By comparing the photographs with reference images taken at night, it would be possible to measure how much the presence of the Sun had bent the stars' light. Conveniently, a cluster of bright stars known as the Hyades would appear near the Sun 28 On the day of the elipse, the Principe team struggled with during the eclipse. intermittently cloudy skies; and the team in Brazil had to resort to P lower-quality backup telescope when the photographs from the main of focus, Both teams, though, were ultimately able telescope were out of focus, After several months of analysis, Eddington and Dyson announced to produce images. in November that their findings supported the theory of general relativity. The media reported the news breathlessly. The Times of London announced "Revolution in Science, New Theory of the Universe. Newtonian Ideas Overthrown." ""Lights All Askew in the Heavens," blared The New York Times. The announcement immediately elevated Einstein, a moderately well-known physicist, to international celebrity. Media coverage tended to dwell on the recondite nature of Einstein's work, emphasizing that there were only a handful of people in the world who could understand it. It could be argued that 1919 was the year when Einstein's name became a byword for superhuman intellectual ability making possible the small industry of Einstein-themed merchandise that still exists today. He embarked on the first of several world tours in 1921. Anrnitckuil a3biK. Tlonrotobka k 0r9-2024. 9 Knace 13 Scientists from Britain wanted to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 14 Spacecrafts can cause an eclipse 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 15 Einstein predicted the exact time of the eclipse. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 16 The researchers could test Einstein's prediction both during the solar eclipse and without it. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 17 Two teams of scientists failed to get the needed photos. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 18 Albert Einstein was interviewed by journalists 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated 19 Albert Einstein became well-known in 1921. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated