Key Takeaways:
- Arthur Eddington demonstrated early academic excellence in mathematics and physics, culminating in his appointment as chief assistant to the astronomer royal in 1906 after graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge.
- He is widely recognized for leading the 1919 eclipse expedition, which empirically verified Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
- Eddington pioneered the modeling of stellar interiors, elucidating how gravity, gas, and radiation pressure maintain stability and providing estimations of their internal temperatures.
- His significant theoretical contributions include hypothesizing hydrogen fusion as a primary stellar energy source, establishing the Eddington limit for stellar luminosity, and advocating for the expanding universe.
From a young age, Arthur Eddington, who was born Dec. 28, 1882, in England, excelled in math and physics. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1905, he became the chief assistant to the astronomer royal the following year.
While famous for his 1919 eclipse expedition to verify Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Eddington also had a long list of other achievements: He researched the nature of stars extensively, becoming the first to model the interior of stars to show how gravity, gas, and radiation pressure maintain stability, and estimating their internal temperatures. He theorized that the fusion of hydrogen was a main source of a star’s energy long before it was widely understood, and established the Eddington limit – the natural extent of a star’s luminosity. He also was an early proponent of the expanding universe – although he did reject the concept of the Big Bang. Eddington died at age 61 in 1944.
