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[[Image:Eddington 2.jpg|right|thumb]]

[[Image:Eddington 2.jpg|right|thumb]]

Sir '''Arthur Eddington''' (1882–1944) was a [[British]] astronomer and physicist perhaps best known for his expedition to [[Principe]] (an island situated 200 km or 150 mi off the coast of [[Gabon]]) in 1919 to observe the bending of starlight around the sun during a total [[eclipse]]. The [[theory of relativity|theory of general relativity]] of [[Albert Einstein]] predicts twice the bending of light around massive objects compared to [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s theory, and an eclipse is required to darken the sun so that the starlight may be seen in proximity to the sun.   

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.

Eddington was a [[conscientious objector]] during [[World War I]]. This wasn't a popular position at his time. When general conscription was introduced in 1916, Edddington entered his plea to claim exemption on grounds of conscience, but his university had requested the authorities not to withdraw him from his scientific researches. Eddington had declared:

Eddington was a [[conscientious objector]] during [[World War I]]. This wasn't a popular position at his time. When general conscription was introduced in 1916, Edddington entered his plea to claim exemption on grounds of conscience, but his university had requested the authorities not to withdraw him from his scientific researches. Eddington had declared: