Meetings of Standing Committees, May 3rd to May 10th, 1922

Prof. Cerulli communicated a note by Prof. Angelitti, in which he enquired whether a modification of the law of gravitation,e.g.,the addition of a small term u/r3, would not account for the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. Sir Frank Dyson replied that the introduction of such a term would introduce other anomalies in the planetary system, and particularly in the motion of the Moon’s apse.Prof. Armellini considered that, as the deflection of a ray of light grazing Jupiter’s surface would be only 1/60th of 1”, and as, moreover, Jupiter has a dense atmosphere, it would not be practicable to verify Einstein’s theory by observations of stars in the neighbourhood of Jupiter. He wished to suggest an examination of the motion of the perihelion of the 5th Satellite of Jupiter.