Arthur Stanley Eddington

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Arthur Stanley Eddington
Badge in Sundy on São Tomé and Príncipe
One of Eddington's photographs of the 1919 solar eclipse (shown in his 1920 publication)

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (born December 28, 1882 in Kendal , † November 22, 1944 in Cambridge ) was a British astrophysicist . He was the first to succeed in modeling the internal structure of stars . Other focal points of his research were the dynamics of star movements, astronomical applications of the theory of relativity and the philosophy of the natural sciences.

Live and act

Career

Eddington was the son of a school principal who died when Eddington was two years old. Both parents were Quakers . After his father's death, Eddington moved with his mother and older sister to Weston-super-Mare , where he went to school. In 1898 he went on a government scholarship to Owens College in Manchester and studied physics and mathematics. His teachers included Arthur Schuster and Horace Lamb . He won several prizes at the university and received his Bachelor of Science degree with top marks in 1902.

After that he went on a scholarship to the Trinity College of Cambridge University , where Edmund Taylor Whittaker , Alfred North Whitehead and Ernest William Barnes his teachers were. In the Tripos exams in mathematics, he was Best (Senior Wrangler) in 1904. In 1905 he received his master's degree (MA) and did research at the Cavendish Laboratory on thermionic discharge , but soon switched to mathematics and astronomy and researched at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich . In 1907 he received the Smith Prize for an essay on the proper motion of stars and became a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1913 he was succeeded George Howard Darwin Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge and the following year director of the Cambridge Observatory.

Eddington was one of the first physicists to recognize the importance of Einstein's general theory of relativity (which he learned about during the First World War through the mediation of Willem de Sitter from 1915). He lectured on it at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1916 and wrote one of the earliest textbooks on it (Mathematical Theory of Relativity, 1923), which was of great influence in the English-speaking world. He also made a decisive contribution to establishing the general theory of relativity worldwide: He led the solar eclipse expedition , which he organized with astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson , to the volcanic island of Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa (see illustration) on May 29, 1919 .

Eddington was a practicing Quaker . On March 2, 1916, conscription was introduced in Great Britain. Eddington wanted to apply for an exemption from conscription based on his pacifist beliefs. The University of Cambridge instead requested an exemption due to the national interest in Eddington's work, which was also granted. However, in 1918 the Ministry of National Service appealed against it. During the subsequent hearing in June 1918, Eddington was not recognized as a conscientious objector, which would have resulted in his being drafted from August 1918. Two further hearings took place in June and July. Eddington's statement on his religious beliefs opposition to the war was taped at the June hearing. At the hearing in July, Eddington was assisted by astronomer Royal Frank Dyson , who issued a written statement underlining Eddington's indispensability for the preparation and execution of the Principe expedition during the May 1919 solar eclipse . Eddington also stated that he was ready to do war replacement service in the Friends' Ambulance Unit , the Red Cross , or as a farm worker. Ultimately, Eddington was released from military service for an additional twelve months due to the importance of his work, which he was obliged to continue during his release. The war ended before his exemption expired.

general theory of relativity

Minutes of the Cambridge Δ 2 V club meeting at which Eddington presented his observations of the deflection of light near the sun in 1919, in accordance with Einstein's general theory of relativity

The general theory of relativity postulates that a mass the size of the sun must be able to bend the space around it significantly. According to this, stars that are close to the sun, seen from the earth, should appear a little displaced because the light rays would be bent by the sun's gravitational field. To observe this effect, however, you need a total solar eclipse, since an optical observation of stars in the vicinity of bright sunlight is impossible. Eddington therefore traveled to Africa to observe the solar eclipse on May 29, 1919. Another team from the expedition also observed the solar eclipse from Sobral ( Ceará ) in Brazil. Eddington's observations were made difficult by the clouds, but he managed to take pictures. In the following analysis, Eddington took them as a confirmation of Einstein's theory. However, later evaluations came to the conclusion that the observations made at the time were too imprecise.

Star physics

Eddington also developed the first real model of the processes taking place in stars. In the early 20th century, astronomers were pretty sure that stars were made of glowing gas. However, it could not be explained why the great pressure from the outside inwards caused by their mass does not cause the star to collapse. Eddington proposed the now recognized theory that although the pressure and temperature in the star increase with increasing depth, the interplay of gravitational and radiation pressure can prevent the star from collapsing. He wrote about the then authoritative textbook The Internal Constitution of Stars (1926), in which he also introduced the mass-luminosity relationship .

The Eddington limit , which describes the maximum luminosity that a star can have in hydrostatic equilibrium, is named after him.

Eddington had an argument with the young Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar over the mass white dwarf limit in the 1930s . He categorically rejected his theories and used his influence as the most famous astrophysicist of the time. The unequal dispute was the reason that Chandrasekhar moved to the United States. For this theory, Chandrasekhar later won the Nobel Prize in Physics , and the Chandrasekhar frontier was named after him.

In addition to his astrophysical works, Eddington also wrote a number of philosophical treatises. He gave preference to the theoretical understanding of nature over experiment and observation. Towards the end of his career, however, his preoccupation with numerical relationships between natural constants met with rejection and even earned him the ridicule of fellow physicists. He also tried to find a synthesis of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, which was also not well received by physicists.

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington died at the age of 61 and was buried in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground , Cambridge .

Works

  • Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe . London: Macmillan 1914.
  • Report on the relativity theory of gravitation . London, Fleetway press, Ltd., 1918, 2nd edition 1920, Reprint Dover 2006.
  • Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory . Cambridge University Press, 1920, 1987.
    • German translation: space, time and gravity. An outline of general relativity. Vieweg 1923.
  • The Mathematical Theory of Relativity . Cambridge University Press 1923, Reprint New York, Chelsea 1975.
    • German translation: Relativity theory in mathematical treatment. Springer Verlag 1925 (translator Alexander Ostrowski ).
  • Stars and Atoms . Oxford: British Association, 1926
    • German translation: Stars and Atoms. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 4th edition 1958.
  • The Internal Constitution of Stars . Cambridge University Press, 1926.
  • The Nature of the Physical World . MacMillan, 1928 (Gifford Lectures).
    • German translation: The worldview of physics and an attempt at its philosophical interpretation. Vieweg 1931.
  • Science and the Unseen World . in the USA: Macmillan, in the UK: Allen & Unwin, 1929 (Swarthmore Lecture).
  • Why I Believe in God: Science and Religion, as a Scientist Sees It . Haldeman-Julius Publications 1930.
  • The Expanding Universe: Astronomy's 'Great Debate', 1900-1931 . Cambridge University Press, 1933, University of Michigan Press 1958.
  • New Pathways in Science . Cambridge University Press 1935.
    • German translation: Natural science on new paths. Vieweg 1935 (translator Wilhelm Westphal ).
  • Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons . Cambridge University Press 1936.
  • Philosophy of Physical Science . Cambridge University Press 1939 (1938 Tarner Lectures in Cambridge).
  • Fundamental Theory . Cambridge University Press 1946.
  • The Combination of Relativity Theory and Quantum Theory . 1943, Reprint, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 1960.

Awards

In 1930 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor and in 1938 he received the Order of Merit . He was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , the Royal Irish Academy , the Russian Academy of Sciences , the Prussian Academy of Sciences , the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1922), the National Academy of Sciences (1925 ) and the American Philosophical Society (1931). In 1926 he gave the Bakerian Lecture (Diffuse matter in interstellar space).

The asteroid (2761) Eddington and the lunar crater Eddington are named after him. The Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society bears his name.

literature

  • A. Vibert Douglas: Eddington, Arthur Stanley . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 4 : Richard Dedekind - Firmicus Maternus . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1971, p. 277-282 .
  • AV Douglas: The life of Arthur Stanley Eddington. Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1956.
  • S. Chandrasekhar: Eddington, the most distinguished astrophysicist of his time. Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  • CW Kilmister: Eddington's Search for a Fundamental Theory. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • CW Kilmister: Article Eddington. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2004.
  • Matthew Stanley: An Expedition to Heal the Wounds of War: The 1919 Eclipse Expedition and Eddington as Quaker Adventurer. Isis, Volume 94, 2003, pp. 57-89.
  • Matthew Stanley: So Simple a Thing as a Star: Jeans, Eddington, and the Growth of Astrophysical Phenomenology. British Journal for the History of Science, Volume 40, 2007, pp. 53-82.
  • Matthew Stanley: Practical Mystic: Religion, Science, and AS Eddington. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  • Friedrich Becker : history of astronomy. Pp. 193-195. BI university paperback No. 298, Mannheim 1968.
  • John Yolton: The Philosophy of Science of Arthur Eddington. Nijhoff, The Hague 1960.
  • William McCrea : Arthur Stanley Eddington. In: Spectrum of Science . December 12/1992, pp. 82-87.
  • Claus BernetArthur Stanley Eddington. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 32, Bautz, Nordhausen 2011, ISBN 978-3-88309-615-5 , Sp. 278-288.
  • Jeffrey Crelinsten: Einstein's jury. The Race to Test Relativity. Princeton UP 2006.

Web links

Commons : Arthur Stanley Eddington  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d A. Vibert Douglas: The Life of Arthur Eddington . Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1956, p. 92-95 .
  2. ^ A b Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar: Eddington: The most distinguished astrophysicist of his time . Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-521-25746-8 , pp. 25-26 .
  3. Daniel Kennefick: Testing relativity from the 1919 eclipse - a question of bias  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / ptonline.aip.org  
  4. ^ Ian McCausland: Anomalies in the History of Relativity. In: Journal of Scientific Exploration. Vol. 13, No. 2, 1999, pp. 271–290 ( online ( memento from November 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 188 kB])
  5. ^ Peter Coles: Einstein, Eddington and the 1919 Eclipse. In: Proceedings of International School on "The Historical Development of Modern Cosmology". Valencia 2000 ( PDF; 279 kB )
  6. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Arthur Stanley Eddington