Arthur Eddington

Sir Arthur Stanley EddingtonOMFRS(28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also aphilosopher of scienceand a populariser of science. TheEddington limit,the natural limit to theluminosityof stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.

Sir Arthur Eddington OMFRS
Born	Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-12-28)28 December 1882 Kendal, Westmorland,England
Died	22 November 1944(1944-11-22)(aged 61) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire,England
Alma mater	University of Manchester Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Arrow of time Eddington approximation Eddington experiment Eddington's affine geometry Eddington limit Eddington number Eddington valve Eddington–Dirac number Eddington–Finkelstein coordinates Eddington stellar model Eddington–Sweet circulation
Awards	Royal SocietyRoyal Medal(1928) Smith's Prize(1907) RASGold Medal(1924) Henry Draper Medal(1924) Bruce Medal(1924) Knight Bachelor(1930) Order of Merit(1938)
Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics
Institutions	Trinity College, Cambridge
Academic advisors	E. T. Whittaker Alfred North Whitehead Ernest William Barnes Robert Alfred Herman
Doctoral students	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Leslie Comrie Hermann Bondi
Other notable students	Georges Lemaître Vibert Douglas George C. McVittie

Around 1920, he foreshadowed the discovery and mechanism ofnuclear fusionprocesses in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars".At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington was the first to correctly speculate that the source was fusion ofhydrogenintohelium.

Eddington wrote a number of articles that announced and explainedEinstein'stheory ofgeneral relativityto the English-speaking world.World War Ihad severed many lines of scientific communication, and new developments in German science were not well known in England. He also conductedan expeditionto observe thesolar eclipse of 29 May 1919on theIsland of Príncipethat provided one of the earliest confirmations of general relativity, and he became known for his popular expositions and interpretations of the theory.

Early years

Eddington was born 28 December 1882 inKendal,Westmorland(nowCumbria), England, the son ofQuakerparents, Arthur Henry Eddington, headmaster of the Quaker School, and Sarah Ann Shout.

His father taught at a Quaker training college inLancashirebefore moving to Kendal to become headmaster of Stramongate School. He died in thetyphoidepidemic which swept England in 1884. His mother was left to bring up her two children with relatively little income. The family moved toWeston-super-Marewhere at first Stanley (as his mother and sister always called Eddington) was educated at home before spending three years at a preparatory school. The family lived at a house called Varzin, 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare. A commemorative plaque on the building explains Sir Arthur's contribution to science.

In 1893 Eddington entered Brynmelyn School. He proved to be a most capable scholar, particularly in mathematics and English literature. His performance earned him a scholarship to Owens College, Manchester (what was later to become theUniversity of Manchester), in 1898, which he was able to attend, having turned 16 that year. He spent the first year in a general course, but he turned tophysicsfor the next three years. Eddington was greatly influenced by his physics and mathematics teachers,Arthur SchusterandHorace Lamb.At Manchester, Eddington lived at Dalton Hall, where he came under the lasting influence of the Quaker mathematician J. W. Graham. His progress was rapid, winning him several scholarships, and he graduated with a BSc in physics with First Class Honours in 1902.

Based on his performance at Owens College, he was awarded a scholarship toTrinity College, Cambridge,in 1902. His tutor at Cambridge wasRobert Alfred Hermanand in 1904 Eddington became the first ever second-year student to be placed asSenior Wrangler.After receiving his M.A. in 1905, he began research onthermionic emissionin theCavendish Laboratory.This did not go well, and meanwhile he spent time teaching mathematics to first year engineering students. This hiatus was brief. Through a recommendation byE. T. Whittaker,his senior colleague at Trinity College, he secured a position at theRoyal Observatory, Greenwich,where he was to embark on his career inastronomy,a career whose seeds had been sown even as a young child when he would often "try to count the stars".

Plaque at 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare

Eddington, right, on a toy donkey; possibly during the Fifth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, held inBonn, Germany,1913

Astronomy

In January 1906, Eddington was nominated to the post of chief assistant to theAstronomer Royalat theRoyal Greenwich Observatory.He left Cambridge for Greenwich the following month. He was put to work on a detailed analysis of theparallaxof433 Erosonphotographic platesthat had started in 1900. He developed a new statistical method based on the apparent drift of two background stars, winning him theSmith's Prizein 1907. The prize won him a fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge. In December 1912,George Darwin,son ofCharles Darwin,died suddenly, and Eddington was promoted to his chair as thePlumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophyin early 1913. Later that year,Robert Ball,holder of the theoreticalLowndean chair,also died, and Eddington was named the director of the entireCambridge Observatorythe next year. In May 1914, he was elected afellow of the Royal Society:he was awarded theRoyal Medalin 1928 and delivered theBakerian Lecturein 1926.

Eddington also investigated the interior ofstarsthrough theory, and developed the first true understanding of stellar processes. He began this in 1916 with investigations of possible physical explanations forCepheid variable stars.He began by extendingKarl Schwarzschild's earlier work on radiation pressure inEmden polytropic models.These models treated a star as a sphere of gas held up against gravity by internal thermal pressure, and one of Eddington's chief additions was to show that radiation pressure was necessary to prevent collapse of the sphere. He developed his model despite knowingly lacking firm foundations for understanding opacity and energy generation in the stellar interior. However, his results allowed for calculation of temperature,densityandpressureat all points inside a star (thermodynamicanisotropy), and Eddington argued that his theory was so useful for further astrophysical investigation that it should be retained despite not being based on completely accepted physics.James Jeanscontributed the important suggestion that stellar matter would certainly beionized,but that was the end of any collaboration between the pair, who became famous for their lively debates.

Eddington defended his method by pointing to the utility of his results, particularly his importantmass–luminosity relation.This had the unexpected result of showing that virtually all stars, includinggiantsanddwarfs,behaved asideal gases.In the process of developing his stellar models, he sought to overturn current thinking about the sources of stellar energy. Jeans and others defended theKelvin–Helmholtz mechanism,which was based on classical mechanics, while Eddington speculated broadly about the qualitative and quantitative consequences of possible proton–electron annihilation and nuclear fusion processes.

Around 1920, he anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars".At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington correctly speculated that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to Einstein's equationE=mc².This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and thermonuclear energy, and even the fact that stars are largely composed ofhydrogen(seemetallicity), had not yet been discovered. Eddington's paper, based on knowledge at the time, reasoned that:

1. The leading theory of stellar energy, the contraction hypothesis (cf. the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism), should cause stars' rotation to visibly speed up due toconservation of angular momentum.But observations ofCepheidvariable stars showed this was not happening.
2. The only other known plausible source of energy was conversion of matter to energy; Einstein had shown some years earlier that a small amount of matter was equivalent to a large amount of energy.
3. Francis Astonhad also recently shown that the mass of aheliumatom was about 0.8% less than the mass of the four hydrogen atoms which would, combined, form a helium atom, suggesting that if such a combination could happen, it would release considerable energy as a byproduct.
4. If a star contained just 5% of fusible hydrogen, it would suffice to explain how stars got their energy. (We now know that most "ordinary" stars contain far more than 5% hydrogen.)
5. Further elements might also be fused, and other scientists had speculated that stars were the "crucible" in which light elements combined to create heavy elements, but without more-accurate measurements of theiratomic massesnothing more could be said at the time.

All of these speculations were proven correct in the following decades.

With these assumptions, he demonstrated that the interior temperature of stars must be millions of degrees. In 1924, he discovered themass–luminosity relationfor stars (see Lecchini in§ Further reading). Despite some disagreement, Eddington's models were eventually accepted as a powerful tool for further investigation, particularly in issues of stellar evolution. The confirmation of his estimated stellar diameters by Michelson in 1920 proved crucial in convincing astronomers unused to Eddington's intuitive, exploratory style. Eddington's theory appeared in mature form in 1926 asThe Internal Constitution of the Stars,which became an important text for training an entire generation of astrophysicists.

Eddington's work inastrophysicsin the late 1920s and the 1930s continued his work in stellar structure, and precipitated further clashes with Jeans andEdward Arthur Milne.An important topic was the extension of his models to take advantage of developments inquantum physics,including the use ofdegeneracy physicsin describing dwarf stars.

Dispute with Chandrasekhar on the mass limit of stars

Main article:Chandrasekhar–Eddington dispute

The topic of extension of his models precipitated his dispute withSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar,who was then a student at Cambridge. Chandrasekhar's work presaged the discovery ofblack holes,which at the time seemed so absurdly non-physical that Eddington refused to believe that Chandrasekhar's purely mathematical derivation had consequences for the real world. Eddington was wrong and his motivation is controversial. Chandrasekhar's narrative of this incident, in which his work is harshly rejected, portrays Eddington as rather cruel and dogmatic. Chandra benefited from his friendship with Eddington. It was Eddington and Milne who put up Chandra's name for the fellowship for the Royal Society which Chandra obtained. An FRS meant he was at the Cambridge high-table with all the luminaries and a very comfortable endowment for research. Eddington's criticism seems to have been based partly on a suspicion that a purely mathematical derivation from relativity theory was not enough to explain the seemingly daunting physical paradoxes that were inherent to degenerate stars, but to have "raised irrelevant objections" in addition, asThanu Padmanabhanputs it.

Relativity

DuringWorld War I,Eddington was secretary of theRoyal Astronomical Society,which meant he was the first to receive a series of letters and papers fromWillem de Sitterregarding Einstein's theory of general relativity. Eddington was fortunate in being not only one of the few astronomers with the mathematical skills to understand general relativity, but owing to his internationalist and pacifist views inspired by his Quaker religious beliefs,one of the few at the time who was still interested in pursuing a theory developed by a German physicist. He quickly became the chief supporter and expositor of relativity in Britain. He andAstronomer RoyalFrank Watson Dysonorganizedtwo expeditionsto observe asolar eclipse in 1919to make the first empirical test of Einstein's theory: the measurement of the deflection of light by the Sun's gravitational field. In fact, Dyson's argument for the indispensability of Eddington's expertise in this test was what prevented Eddington from eventually having to enter military service.

When conscription was introduced in Britain on 2 March 1916, Eddington intended to apply for an exemption as aconscientious objector.Cambridge University authorities instead requested and were granted an exemption on the ground of Eddington's work being of national interest. In 1918, this was appealed against by theMinistry of National Service.Before the appeal tribunal in June, Eddington claimed conscientious objector status, which was not recognized and would have ended his exemption in August 1918. A further two hearings took place in June and July, respectively. Eddington's personal statement at the June hearing about his objection to war based on religious grounds is on record.TheAstronomer Royal,Sir Frank Dyson,supported Eddington at the July hearing with a written statement, emphasising Eddington's essential role in thesolar eclipseexpedition toPríncipein May 1919. Eddington made clear his willingness to serve in theFriends' Ambulance Unit,under the jurisdiction of the BritishRed Cross,or as a harvest labourer. However, the tribunal's decision to grant a further twelve months' exemption from military service was on condition of Eddington continuing his astronomy work, in particular in preparation for the Príncipe expedition.The war ended before the end of his exemption.

One of Eddington's photographs of the totalsolar eclipse of 29 May 1919,presented in his 1920 paper announcing its success, confirmingEinstein's theory that light "bends"

After the war, Eddington travelled to the island of Príncipe off the west coast of Africa to watch thesolar eclipse of 29 May 1919.During the eclipse, he took pictures of the stars (several stars in theHyades cluster,includingKappa Tauriof the constellationTaurus) whose line of sight from the Earth happened to be near the Sun's location in the sky at that time of year.This effect is noticeable only during a total solar eclipse when the sky is dark enough to see stars which are normally obscured by the Sun's brightness. According to the theory ofgeneral relativity,stars with light rays that passed near the Sun would appear to have been slightly shifted because their light had been curved by its gravitational field. Eddington showed that Newtonian gravitation could be interpreted to predict half the shift predicted by Einstein.

Eddington's observations published the next yearallegedly confirmed Einstein's theory, and were hailed at the time as evidence of general relativity over the Newtonian model. The news was reported in newspapers all over the world as a major story. Afterward, Eddington embarked on a campaign to popularize relativity and the expedition as landmarks both in scientific development and international scientific relations.

It has been claimed that Eddington's observations were of poor quality, and he had unjustly discounted simultaneous observations atSobral, Brazil,which appeared closer to the Newtonian model, but a 1979 re-analysis with modern measuring equipment and contemporary software validated Eddington's results and conclusions.The quality of the 1919 results was indeed poor compared to later observations, but was sufficient to persuade contemporary astronomers. The rejection of the results from the expedition to Brazil was due to a defect in the telescopes used which, again, was completely accepted and well understood by contemporary astronomers.

The minute book of Cambridge ∇²V Club for the meeting where Eddington presented his observations of the curvature of light around the Sun, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity. They include the line "A general discussion followed. The President remarked that the 83rd meeting was historic".

Throughout this period, Eddington lectured on relativity, and was particularly well known for his ability to explain the concepts in lay terms as well as scientific. He collected many of these into theMathematical Theory of Relativityin 1923, whichAlbert Einsteinsuggested was "the finest presentation of the subject in any language." He was an early advocate of Einstein's general relativity, and an interesting anecdote well illustrates his humour and personal intellectual investment:Ludwik Silberstein,a physicist who thought of himself as an expert on relativity, approached Eddington at theRoyal Society's (6 November) 1919 meeting where he had defended Einstein's relativity with his Brazil-Príncipe solar eclipse calculations with some degree of scepticism, and ruefully charged Arthur as one who claimed to be one of three men who actually understood the theory (Silberstein, of course, was including himself and Einstein as the other). When Eddington refrained from replying, he insisted Arthur not be "so shy", whereupon Eddington replied, "Oh, no! I was wondering who the third one might be!"

Cosmology

Eddington was also heavily involved with the development of the first generation of general relativistic cosmological models. He had been investigating the instability of the Einstein universe when he learned of bothLemaître's1927 paper postulating an expanding or contracting universe and Hubble's work on the recession of the spiral nebulae. He felt thecosmological constantmust have played the crucial role in the universe's evolution from an Einsteinian steady state to its current expanding state, and most of his cosmological investigations focused on the constant's significance and characteristics. InThe Mathematical Theory of Relativity,Eddington interpreted the cosmological constant to mean that the universe is "self-gauging".

Fundamental theory and the Eddington number

During the 1920s until his death, Eddington increasingly concentrated on what he called "fundamental theory"which was intended to be a unification ofquantum theory,relativity,cosmology, andgravitation.At first he progressed along "traditional" lines, but turned increasingly to an almostnumerologicalanalysis of the dimensionless ratios of fundamental constants.

His basic approach was to combine several fundamental constants in order to produce a dimensionless number. In many cases these would result in numbers close to 10⁴⁰,its square, or its square root. He was convinced that the mass of theprotonand the charge of theelectronwere a "natural and complete specification for constructing a Universe" and that their values were not accidental. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics,Paul Dirac,also pursued this line of investigation, which has become known as theDirac large numbers hypothesis. A somewhat damaging statement in his defence of these concepts involved thefine-structure constant,α.At the time it was measured to be very close to 1/136, and he argued that the value should in fact be exactly 1/136 for epistemological reasons. Later measurements placed the value much closer to 1/137, at which point he switched his line of reasoning to argue that one more should be added to thedegrees of freedom,so that the value should in fact be exactly 1/137, theEddington number.Wagsat the time started calling him "Arthur Adding-one".This change of stance detracted from Eddington's credibility in the physics community. The current CODATA value is 1/137.035999177(21).

Eddington believed he had identified an algebraic basis for fundamental physics, which he termed "E-numbers" (representing a certaingroup– aClifford algebra). These in effect incorporatedspacetimeinto a higher-dimensional structure. While his theory has long been neglected by the general physics community, similar algebraic notions underlie many modern attempts at agrand unified theory.Moreover, Eddington's emphasis on the values of the fundamental constants, and specifically upon dimensionless numbers derived from them, is nowadays a central concern of physics. In particular, he predicted a number of hydrogen atoms in the Universe136 × 2²⁵⁶≈1.57×10⁷⁹,or equivalently the half of the total number of particles protons + electrons.He did not complete this line of research before his death in 1944; his bookFundamental Theorywas published posthumously in 1948.

Eddington number for cycling

Eddington is credited with devising a measure of acyclist'slong-distance riding achievements. The Eddington number in the context of cycling is defined as the maximum number E such that the cyclist has cycled at least Emileson at least E days.

For example, an Eddington number of 70 would imply that the cyclist has cycled at least 70 miles in a day on at least 70 occasions. Achieving a high Eddington number is difficult, since moving from, say, 70 to 75 will (probably) require more than five new long-distance rides, since any rides shorter than 75 miles will no longer be included in the reckoning. Eddington's own life-time E-number was 84.

The Eddington number for cycling is analogous to theh-indexthat quantifies both the actual scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist.

Philosophy

Idealism

Eddington wrote in his bookThe Nature of the Physical Worldthat "The stuff of the world is mind-stuff."

The mind-stuff of the world is, of course, something more general than our individual conscious minds... The mind-stuff is not spread in space and time; these are part of the cyclic scheme ultimately derived out of it... It is necessary to keep reminding ourselves that all knowledge of our environment from which the world of physics is constructed, has entered in the form of messages transmitted along the nerves to the seat of consciousness... Consciousness is not sharply defined, but fades into subconsciousness; and beyond that we must postulate something indefinite but yet continuous with our mental nature... It is difficult for the matter-of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everything is of mental character. But no one can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience, and all else is remote inference.

— Eddington,The Nature of the Physical World,276–81.

Theidealistconclusion was not integral to his epistemology but was based on two main arguments.

The first derives directly from current physical theory. Briefly, mechanical theories of the ether and of the behaviour of fundamental particles have been discarded in both relativity and quantum physics. From this, Eddington inferred that a materialistic metaphysics was outmoded and that, in consequence, since the disjunction of materialism or idealism are assumed to be exhaustive, an idealistic metaphysics is required. The second, and more interesting argument, was based on Eddington's epistemology, and may be regarded as consisting of two parts. First, all we know of the objective world is its structure, and the structure of the objective world is precisely mirrored in our own consciousness. We therefore have no reason to doubt that the objective world too is "mind-stuff". Dualistic metaphysics, then, cannot be evidentially supported.

But, second, not only can we not know that the objective world is nonmentalistic, we also cannot intelligibly suppose that it could be material. To conceive of a dualism entails attributing material properties to the objective world. However, this presupposes that we could observe that the objective world has material properties. But this is absurd, for whatever is observed must ultimately be the content of our own consciousness, and consequently, nonmaterial.

Eddington believed that physics cannot explainconsciousness- "light waves are propagated from the table to the eye; chemical changes occur in the retina; propagation of some kind occurs in the optic nerves; atomic changes follow in the brain. Just where the final leap into consciousness occurs is not clear. We do not know the last stage of the message in the physical world before it became a sensation in consciousness".

Ian Barbour,in his bookIssues in Science and Religion(1966), p. 133, cites Eddington'sThe Nature of the Physical World(1928) for a text that argues theHeisenberguncertainty principleprovides a scientific basis for "the defense of the idea of human freedom" and hisScience and the Unseen World(1929) for support ofphilosophical idealism,"the thesis that reality is basically mental".

Charles De Koninckpoints out that Eddington believed in objective reality existing apart from our minds, but was using the phrase "mind-stuff" to highlight the inherentintelligibilityof the world: that our minds and the physical world are made of the same "stuff" and that our minds are the inescapable connection to the world.As De Koninck quotes Eddington,

There is a doctrine well known to philosophers that the moon ceases to exist when no one is looking at it. I will not discuss the doctrine since I have not the least idea what is the meaning of the word existence when used in this connection. At any rate the science of astronomy has not been based on this spasmodic kind of moon. In the scientific world (which has to fulfill functions less vague than merely existing) there is a moon which appeared on the scene before the astronomer; it reflects sunlight when no one sees it; it has mass when no one is measuring the mass; it is distant 240,000 miles from the earth when no one is surveying the distance; and it will eclipse the sun in 1999 even if the human race has succeeded in killing itself off before that date.

— Eddington,The Nature of the Physical World,226

Science

See also:IndeterminismandIndeterminism in science

AgainstAlbert Einsteinand others who advocateddeterminism,indeterminism—championed by Eddington—says that a physical object has anontologicallyundetermined component that is not due to theepistemologicallimitations of physicists' understanding. Theuncertainty principleinquantum mechanics,then, would not necessarily be due tohidden variablesbut to an indeterminism in nature itself.Eddington proclaimed "It is a consequence of the advent of the quantum theory that physics is no longer pledged to a scheme of deterministic law".

Eddington agreed with the tenet oflogical positivismthat "the meaning of a scientific statement is to be ascertained by reference to the steps which would be taken to verify it".

Popular and philosophical writings

Eddington wrote a parody ofThe Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,recounting his 1919 solar eclipse experiment. It contained the followingquatrain:

Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate
One thing at least is certain, LIGHT has WEIGHT,
One thing is certain, and the rest debate—
Light-rays, when near the Sun, DO NOT GO STRAIGHT.

In addition to his textbookThe Mathematical Theory of Relativity,during the 1920s and 30s, Eddington gave numerous lectures, interviews, and radio broadcasts on relativity, and later, quantum mechanics. Many of these were gathered into books, includingThe Nature of the Physical WorldandNew Pathways in Science.His use of literary allusions and humour helped make these difficult subjects more accessible.

Eddington's books and lectures were immensely popular with the public, not only because of his clear exposition, but also for his willingness to discuss the philosophical and religious implications of the new physics. He argued for a deeply rooted philosophical harmony between scientific investigation and religious mysticism, and also that the positivist nature of relativity and quantum physics provided new room for personal religious experience and free will. Unlike many other spiritual scientists, he rejected the idea that science could provide proof of religious propositions.

His popular writings made him a household name in Great Britain between the world wars.

Death

Eddington died of cancer in theEvelyn Nursing Home,Cambridge, on 22 November 1944.He was unmarried. His body was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium (Cambridgeshire) on 27 November 1944; the cremated remains were buried in the grave of his mother in theAscension Parish Burial Groundin Cambridge.

Cambridge University'sNorth West Cambridge developmenthas been named Eddington in his honour.

Eddington was played byDavid Tennantin the television filmEinstein and Eddington,with Einstein played byAndy Serkis.The film was notable for its groundbreaking portrayal of Eddington as a somewhat repressed gay man. It was first broadcast in 2008.

The actorPaul Eddingtonwas a relative, mentioning in his autobiography (in light of his own weakness in mathematics) "what I then felt to be the misfortune" of being related to "one of the foremost physicists in the world".Paul's father Albert and Sir Arthur were second cousins, both great-grandsons of William Eddington (1755–1806).

Honours

Awards and honors

• Smith's Prize(1907)
• International Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences(1922)
• Bruce Medalof Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1924)
• Henry Draper Medalof theNational Academy of Sciences(1924)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society(1924)
• International Member of the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences(1925)
• Foreign membership of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences(1926)
• Prix Jules Janssenof theSociété astronomique de France(French Astronomical Society) (1928)
• Royal Medalof theRoyal Society(1928)
• Knighthood(1930)
• International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society(1931)
• Order of Merit(1938)
• Honorary member of theNorwegian Astronomical Society(1939)
• Hon. Freeman ofKendal,1930

Named after him

• Lunar craterEddington
• asteroid2761 Eddington
• Royal Astronomical Society'sEddington Medal
• Eddington mission,now cancelled
• Eddington Tower, halls of residence at theUniversity of Essex
• Eddington Astronomical Society,an amateur society based in his hometown ofKendal
• Eddington, a house (group of students, used for in-school sports matches) ofKirkbie Kendal School
• Eddington, new suburb of North WestCambridge,opened in 2017
• Eddington Community Interest Company (CIC), 2003. A Community Centre focusing on Climate Information and projects, including a Waste Food Community Café and Larder, in partnership with SLACC (South Lakes Action on Climate Change), converting the former United Reform Church inKendal

Service

• Gave theSwarthmore Lecturein 1929
• Chairman of theNational Peace Council1941–1943
• President of theInternational Astronomical Union;of thePhysical Society,1930–32; of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1921–23
• Romanes Lecturer,1922
• Gifford Lecturer,1927

In popular culture

• Eddington is a central figure in theshort story"The Mathematician's Nightmare: The Vision of Professor Squarepunt" byBertrand Russell,a work featured inThe Mathematical MagpiebyClifton Fadiman.
• He was portrayed byDavid Tennantin the television filmEinstein and Eddington,a co-production of theBBCandHBO,broadcast in the United Kingdom on Saturday, 22 November 2008, on BBC2.
• His thoughts on humour and religious experience were quoted in the adventure gameThe Witness,a production of theThelka, Inc.,released on 26 January 2016.
• Timeplaced him on the cover on 16 April 1934.
• The song “In Transit”, from the 2023 albumSigns Of LifebyNeil GaimanandFourplay String Quartetwas written in memory of him.

Publications

• 1914.Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe.London: Macmillan.
• 1918.Report on the relativity theory of gravitation.London, Fleetway Press, Ltd.
• 1920.Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-33709-7
• 1922.The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought
• 1923. 1952.The Mathematical Theory of Relativity.Cambridge University Press.
• 1925.The Domain of Physical Science.2005 reprint:ISBN1-4253-5842-X
• 1926.Stars and Atoms.Oxford: British Association.
• 1926.The Internal Constitution of Stars.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-33708-9
• 1928.The Nature of the Physical World.MacMillan. 1935 replica edition:ISBN0-8414-3885-4,University of Michigan 1981 edition:ISBN0-472-06015-5(1926–27Gifford lectures)
• 1929.Science and the Unseen World.US Macmillan, UK Allen & Unwin. 1980 Reprint Arden LibraryISBN0-8495-1426-6.2004 US reprint – Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publications:ISBN1-4179-1728-8.2007 UK reprint London, Allen & UnwinISBN978-0-901689-81-8(Swarthmore Lecture), with a new foreword byGeorge Ellis.
• 1930.Why I Believe in God: Science and Religion, as a Scientist Sees It.Arrow/scrollable preview.
• 1933.The Expanding Universe: Astronomy's 'Great Debate', 1900–1931.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-34976-1
• 1935.New Pathways in Science.Cambridge University Press.
• 1936.Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons.Cambridge Univ. Press.
• 1939.Philosophy of Physical Science.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-7581-2054-0(1938 Tarner lectures at Cambridge)
• 1946.Fundamental Theory.Cambridge University Press.

See also

Astronomy

• Chandrasekhar limit
• Eddington luminosity(also called the Eddington limit)
• Gravitational lens
• Outline of astronomy
• Stellar nucleosynthesis
• Timeline of stellar astronomy
• List of astronomers

Science

• Arrow of time
• Classical unified field theories
• Degenerate matter
• Dimensionless physical constant
• Dirac large numbers hypothesis(also called the Eddington–Dirac number)
• Eddington number
• Introduction to quantum mechanics
• Luminiferous aether
• Parameterized post-Newtonian formalism
• Special relativity
• Theory of everything(also called "final theory" or "ultimate theory" )
• Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
• List of experiments

People

• List of science and religion scholars

Other

• Infinite monkey theorem
• Numerology
• Ontic structural realism

Further reading

• Durham, Ian T., "Eddington & Uncertainty". Physics in Perspective (September – December). Arxiv,History of Physics
• Kilmister, C. W. (1994).Eddington's Search for a Fundamental Theory.Cambridge Univ. Press.ISBN978-0-521-37165-0.
• Lecchini, Stefano, "How Dwarfs Became Giants. The Discovery of the Mass–Luminosity Relation"Bern Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science,pp. 224. (2007)
• Vibert Douglas, A. (1956).The Life of Arthur Stanley Eddington.Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
• Stanley, Matthew. "An Expedition to Heal the Wounds of War: The 1919 Eclipse Expedition and Eddington as Quaker Adventurer."Isis94 (2003): 57–89.
• Stanley, Matthew. "So Simple a Thing as a Star: Jeans, Eddington, and the Growth of Astrophysical Phenomenology" inBritish Journal for the History of Science,2007, 40: 53–82.
• Stanley, Matthew (2007).Practical Mystic: Religion, Science, and A.S. Eddington.University of Chicago Press.ISBN978-0-226-77097-0.

External links

• Works by Arthur EddingtonatProject Gutenberg
• Works by Arthur Stanley EddingtonatFaded Page(Canada)
• Works by or about Arthur Eddingtonat theInternet Archive
• Sir Arthur Stanley EddingtonatFind a Grave
• Trinity College Chapel
• Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944)Archived21 December 2005 at theWayback Machine.University of St Andrews, Scotland.
• Quotations by Arthur Eddington
• Arthur Stanley EddingtonArchived1 May 2015 at theWayback MachineThe Bruce Medalists.
• Russell, Henry Norris, "Review of The Internal Constitution of the Starsby A.S. Eddington".Ap.J. 67, 83 (1928).
• Experiments of Sobral and Príncipe repeated in the spaceproject in proceeding in fórum astronomical.
• O'Connor, John J.;Robertson, Edmund F.,"Arthur Eddington",MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive,University of St Andrews
• Biography and bibliography of Bruce medalists: Arthur Stanley Eddington
• Eddington books:The Nature of the Physical World,The Philosophy of Physical Science,Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons,andFundamental Theory

Obituaries

• Obituary 1byHenry Norris Russell,Astrophysical Journal101(1943–46) 133
• Obituary 2byA. Vibert Douglas,Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada,39(1943–46) 1
• Obituary 3byHarold Spencer JonesandE. T. Whittaker,Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society105(1943–46) 68
• Obituary 4byHerbert Dingle,The Observatory66(1943–46) 1
• The Times,Thursday, 23 November 1944; pg. 7; Issue 49998; col D: Obituary (unsigned) – Image of cutting available atO'Connor, John J.;Robertson, Edmund F.,"Arthur Eddington",MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive,University of St Andrews