Friday, May 29, 2009

90 years ago, he was right: Celebrating the 1919 Eclipse at Príncipe

 
It was this day, 90 years ago, when Einstein was proven right and became world famous. A revolution was happened in science history of humankind and evevrything change in our perspective toward universe. A new theory emerged and established itself strongly.

In a world torn apart by first world war, it was hailed as a ray of hope that "a new theory of the universe, the brain-child of a German Jew working in Berlin, had been confirmed by an English Quaker on a small African island" (J. P. McEnvoy).

Einstein's new theory predicted that light does not necessarily travel in straight lines, but can be deflected when it passes something as heavy as the sun. This gravitational deflection of light by the sun's mass provided the first experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

This International Year of Astronomy special project will celebrate the expedition's 90th anniversary: to explain the historic significance of Príncipe, and the way in which gravitational lensing is shaping contemporary scientific understanding of the Universe.

1 Earthling’s comments:

Frank Partisan said...

A toast to Mr Einstein.

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