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Sir '''Arthur Eddington''' (1882–1944) was a [[British]] astronomer, mathematician, physicist, science writer, and science "popularizer", somewhat in the mold of [[Carl Sagan]] and [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] in modern times.<ref>''The Nature of the Physical World'', Arthur Eddington, MacMillan, 1929, ISBN 0-8414-3885-4</ref>

Sir '''Arthur Eddington''' (1882–1944) was a [[British]] astronomer, mathematician, physicist, science writer, and science "popularizer", somewhat in the mold of [[Carl Sagan]] and [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] in modern times.<ref>''The Nature of the Physical World'', Arthur Eddington, MacMillan, 1929, ISBN 0-8414-3885-4</ref>

In the early decades on the 20^th century, two new theories of "modern physics", [[Relativity]] and [[Quantum Mechanics]], had come into existence.  Both were known for being very abstruse.  He popularized them, both for experts and for the general public.  He particularly worked on getting relativity better known, both by the scientific community and by the public.  [[General Relativity]] was something he worked especially hard at.

In the early decades on the 20th century, two new theories of "modern physics", [[Relativity]] and [[Quantum Mechanics]], had come into existence.  Both were known for being very abstruse.  He popularized them, both for experts and for the general public.  He particularly worked on getting relativity better known, both by the scientific community and by the public.  [[General Relativity]] was something he worked especially hard at.

He is best known for his observations of the bending of light from stars in the vicinity of the sun during a total [[eclipse]].  This had been predicted by General Relativity, but the theory was so esoteric that even the scientific community had a difficult time with it.  The problem was compounded by the fact that Einstein was German, and the controversy was around the time of [[World War I]], when America and Western Europe were not positively disposed toward Germans.  His claimed success (not fully justified&mdash;see below) immediately propelled Einstein (and, to a lesser extent, Eddington), to worldwide fame, even though the public still understood virtually nothing about relativity.

He is best known for his observations of the bending of light from stars in the vicinity of the sun during a total [[eclipse]].  This had been predicted by General Relativity, but the theory was so esoteric that even the scientific community had a difficult time with it.  The problem was compounded by the fact that Einstein was German, and the controversy was around the time of [[World War I]], when America and Western Europe were not positively disposed toward Germans.  His claimed success (not fully justified&mdash;see below) immediately propelled Einstein (and, to a lesser extent, Eddington), to worldwide fame, even though the public still understood virtually nothing about relativity.

Recent analysis of Eddington’s work revealed that he was biased in selecting his data, and that overall his data were inconclusive about the theory of relativity.<ref>http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102462</ref>  Modern techniques for analyzing data from experiments involves extremely careful statistical analysis of the data, and generally demands a "5 sigma" level of statistical certainty, which means that there is only a one-in-three-million chance that the measurements came out that way by chance rather than by the phenomenon being measured.

Recent analysis of Eddington’s work revealed that he was biased in selecting his data, and that overall his data were inconclusive about the theory of relativity.<ref>http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102462</ref>  Modern techniques for analyzing data from experiments involves extremely careful statistical analysis of the data, and generally demands a "5 sigma" level of statistical certainty, which means that there is only a one-in-three-million chance that the measurements came out that way by chance rather than by the phenomenon being measured.

Eddington's observation protocol was somewhat muddled by an incorrect initial calculation, by several people including Einstein himself, of what the effect would be, and some "cherry picking" of the data to be used <ref name="waller">''Einstein's Luck'', John Waller, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860719-9</ref><ref>[http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102462 Peter Coles (University of Nottingham, UK): ''"Einstein, Eddington and the 1919 Eclipse"'']</ref>. The data selection could be considered "manipulation" or "fudging", by Eddington, who had a personal stake in the outcome.  His analysis techniques would not pass muster today.  Nevertheless, the deflection has been verified with ever-increasing precision in subsequent eclipses, and, with exquisite precision, in the observations of quasar 3C273.

Eddington's observation protocol was somewhat muddled by an incorrect initial calculation, by several people including Einstein himself, of what the effect would be, and some "cherry picking" of the data to be used.<ref name="waller">''Einstein's Luck'', John Waller, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860719-9</ref><ref>[http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102462 Peter Coles (University of Nottingham, UK): ''"Einstein, Eddington and the 1919 Eclipse"'']</ref>  The data selection could be considered "manipulation" or "fudging", by Eddington, who had a personal stake in the outcome.  His analysis techniques would not pass muster today.  Nevertheless, the deflection has been verified with ever-increasing precision in subsequent eclipses, and, with exquisite precision, in the observations of quasar 3C273.

    

    

==Promotion of General Relativity, and the "Who is the Third?" Anecdote==

==Promotion of General Relativity, and the "Who is the Third?" Anecdote==