Einstein and the Astronomers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanoch Gutfreund ◽  
Jürgen Renn
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Expanding Universe ◽  
Light Bending ◽  
Distant Galaxies ◽  
Early Exploration

This chapter deals with the early exploration of observational and experimental consequences of general relativity. It explores Erwin Freundlich's failed attempts to verify gravitational light bending and the redshift. The long collaboration between Einstein and Freundlich suffered a setback caused by personal tensions and disagreements around the end of 1921. Nevertheless, they continued to collaborate until both of them had to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power. The chapter also focuses on the triumphal confirmation of light bending during a solar eclipse by Arthur Eddington's expedition. Finally, this chapter considers the Hubble's discovery of the redshift of distant galaxies, which established the notion of an expanding universe.

General Relativity in Australian Newspapers: The 1919 and 1922 Solar Eclipse Expeditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Keith John Treschman
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
Gravitational Redshift ◽  
Light Bending ◽  
Australian Continent ◽  
The Media ◽  
Good Coverage

In 1922 there was a total solar eclipse with the central track traversing the Australian continent from Western Australia, through South Australia and across Queensland. Local and overseas astronomers mounted major observing campaigns to verify the amount of gravitational light bending predicted by the Theory of General Relativity. This paper looks at how the media reported the results from previous expeditions in 1919,whichwere conducted by the British, and the necessity for the 1922 measurements in Australia. It was this latter local eclipse that was the impetus for Australian correspondents to report on General Relativity. In general, the Australian newspapers chronicled informatively and accurately, they provided a good coverage of the eclipse parties and stressed the significance of the 1922 investigations. Additional keywords: 1919 eclipse, 1922 eclipse, Australian newspapers, Australian public, General Relativity, gravitational deflection, gravitational redshift, Mercury anomaly.

From Genesis to Revelation

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Spectral Lines ◽  
Universe Model ◽  
Expanding Universe ◽  
Distant Galaxies ◽  
Cepheid Variables ◽  
Nearby Galaxies ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Georges Lemaître

The expanding universe model was first championed by the Belgian priest Georges Lemaître, who does not always receive as much credit as he deserves. Lemaître showed how the equations of general relativity predict the universe is expanding, but Einstein was sceptical. Lemaître realized this idea could be tested because spectral lines in light from distant galaxies should be redshifted in an expanding universe and this redshift should be proportional to the distance to the galaxies. Henrietta Leavitt discovered that it is possible to determine the distance to Cepheid variables by measuring the period of their variability. Hubble used this technique to determine the distance to various nearby galaxies and compared this to their redshift data and showed that the universe is indeed expanding.

scholarly journals Gamma Astrometric Measurement Experiment: testing General Relativity with a small mission

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 290-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vecchiato ◽  
M. G. Lattanzi ◽  
M. Gai ◽  
R. Morbidelli
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Measurement Experiment ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time ◽  
Bending Of Light

AbstractGAME (Gamma Astrometric Measurement Experiment) is a concept for an experiment whose goal is to measure from space the γ parameter of the Parameterized Post-Newtonian formalism, by means of a satellite orbiting at 1 AU from the Sun and looking as close as possible to its limb. This technique resembles the one used during the solar eclipse of 1919, when Dyson, Eddington and collaborators measured for the first time the gravitational bending of light. Simple estimations suggest that, possibly within the budget of a small mission, one could reach the 10−6level of accuracy with ~106observations of relatively bright stars at about 2° apart from the Sun. Further simulations show that this result could be reached with only 20 days of measurements on stars ofV≤ 17 uniformly distributed. A quick look at real star densities suggests that this result could be greatly improved by observing particularly crowded regions near the galactic center.

Observations which contradict the hypothesis of a big bang universe

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-172
Author(s):  
Halton Arp
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Correct Solution ◽  
Expanding Universe ◽  
Fundamental Assumption ◽  
Continuous Creation ◽  
Observational Test ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Recession Velocity

The Big Bang theory requires all matter and galaxies to have been created simultaneously 15 billion years ago. But many young galaxies have been observed which must have been created more recently. Moreover, these younger objects, although demonstrably nearby, have large redshifts which cannot be due to recession velocity in an expanding universe. The fundamental assumption in the Big Bang is that extragalactic redshifts are caused only by the velocity of recession. It is shown here how every observational test which can be made on galaxies, and even stars, contradicts the assumption. It is described how a more general and more correct solution of the Einstein general relativity equations yields a non-expanding, continuous creation universe of unlimited age and size.

scholarly journals The restoration of the quadrupole light bending

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 395-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Crosta ◽  
D. Gardiol ◽  
M. G. Lattanzi ◽  
R. Morbidelli
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Data Base ◽  
Relativistic Effect ◽  
Error Model ◽  
The Real ◽  
Light Bending ◽  
Oblate Planet

AbstractThe ESA astrometric mission Gaia will be able to put to test General Relativity thanks to differential astrometric measurements. The differential experiment, GAREX, implemented in the form of repeated Eddington-like measurement, aims at measuring the quadrupole light bending due to an oblate planet by comparing the evolution of relative distances in stellar fields in the vicinity of it. Simulations which utilize (i) selected fields extracted from the GSCII data base, (ii) a realistic error model as function of the star's magnitude and distance from Jupiter's edge, show the real best scenarios and how to improve the Gaia ability to detect this relativistic effect.

The Lens of Gravity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Nolte
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
General Relativity ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
History Of Physics ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Paradigm Shifts ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
General Theory Of Relativity ◽  
History Of

This chapter describes how gravity provided the backdrop for one of the most important paradigm shifts in the history of physics. Prior to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, trajectories were paths described by geometry. After the theory of general relativity, trajectories are paths caused by geometry. This chapter explains how Einstein arrived at his theory of gravity, relying on the space-time geometry of Hermann Minkowski, whose work he had originally harshly criticized. The confirmation of Einstein’s theory was one of the dramatic high points in twentieth-century history of physics when Arthur Eddington journeyed to an island off the coast of Africa to observe stellar deflections during a solar eclipse. If Galileo was the first rock star of physics, then Einstein was the first worldwide rock star of science.

scholarly journals The October 10, 1912 solar eclipse expeditions and the first attempt to measure light bending by the Sun

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 2041001
Author(s):  
Luís C. B. Crispino
Keyword(s):  
Gravitational Field ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Light Bending ◽  
The One

In 1911, Einstein proposed that light bending by the Sun’s gravitational field could be measured during a total solar eclipse. The first opportunity in which this measurement would be tried was during the total solar eclipse of October 10, 1912. We report about the expeditions sent to Brazil to observe this eclipse, including the one from the Córdoba Observatory, from Argentina, which aimed to measure this Einstein’s effect.

Behavior of Irregularities in the Distribution of Matter: Newtonian Approximation

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-137
Author(s):  
P. J. E. Peebles
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Mass Distribution ◽  
Newtonian Mechanics ◽  
Expanding Universe ◽  
Matter Distribution ◽  
Newtonian Approximation ◽  
Limiting Case ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Georges Lemaître

This chapter examines the behavior of a given mass distribution in the Newtonian approximation. Discussion of how irregularities in the matter distribution behave in an expanding universe is greatly simplified by the fact that a limiting approximation of general relativity, Newtonian mechanics, applies in a region small compared to the Hubble length. The rest of the universe can affect the region only through a tidal field. Though the point was clearly made by Georges Lemaître, it has not always been recognized that the Newtonian approximation is not a model but a limiting case valid no matter what is happening in the distant parts of the universe. Because of the importance of this result, the chapter discusses it at some length.

Dark Matter

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-174
Author(s):  
Alvaro De Rújula
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Dark Matter ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Gravitational Lensing ◽  
Virial Theorem ◽  
Dark Matter Halos ◽  
Gravitational Lenses ◽  
Coma Cluster ◽  
Cluster Of Galaxies ◽  
Galactic Dark Matter

What we know or do not know about dark matter. The evidence for its existence, first found by Fritz Zwicky. The “virial theorem” and the Coma cluster. The rotation curves of galaxies. Galactic dark-matter halos. Gravitational lensing and the May 1919 solar eclipse, a thiumph of General Relativity that propelled Einstein to his fame. The deflection of starlight by the eclipsed Sun. Gravitational lenses, Einstein rings, and Smilie. Gravitational-lensing and evidence for dark matter in the Bullet cluster of galaxies.

Constructing a ‘revolution in science’: the campaign to promote a favourable reception for the 1919 solar eclipse experiments

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALISTAIR SPONSEL
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Albert Einstein ◽  
Relativity Theory ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Crucial Experiment ◽  
Royal Astronomical Society ◽  
Professional Success

A patriot fiddler-composer of LutonWrote a funeral march which he played with the mute on,To record, as he said, that a Jewish-Swiss-TeutonHad partially scrapped the Principia of Newton.Punch, 19 November 1919, p. 422When the results of experiments performed during the British solar eclipse expeditions of 1919 were announced at a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, they were celebrated in the next day's Times of London with the famous headline ‘Revolution in science’. This exemplified the general approbation with which A. S. Eddington and F. W. Dyson's results were received, the upshot of which was widespread approval for general relativity and worldwide fame for Albert Einstein. Perhaps because of Einstein's present reputation, there has been little historical analysis of why his theory should have been so celebrated on the basis of a single announcement of the results of one group's experiments. In this paper I argue that the remarkable public and professional success of the eclipse experiments was the direct result of a systematic and extended campaign by Eddington and Dyson and their associates to create interest in relativity theory, build an audience for the experiments, promote a favourable reception for the results and establish their work as a crucial experiment that would distinguish between the gravitation theories of Newton and Einstein. The campaign was motivated by Eddington's affection for Einstein's theory, and was successful largely because of Eddington's substantial credibility.

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