Solar Eclipse

Above is the picture taken by Sir Arthur Eddington from the island of Principe off the coast of Africa in May 29, 1919, to test Einstein’s theory. Image courtesy of The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

At left is the picture taken by Sir Arthur Eddington from the island of Principe off the coast of Africa in May 29, 1919, to test Einstein’s theory. The image confirmed that the Sun “bent” starlight, so that stars seen near the Sun during a solar eclipse were observed to be in slightly different positions than they would be if the Sun were not there.

Soviet astronomer Alexander Friedmann fully accepted Einsten’s theory of gravity, but did not believe the imaginary cosmological constant existed. Instead, he used Einstein’s theory to predict that the universe was changing, either shrinking or expanding. Eventually, his interpretation of Einstein’s theory turned out to be right.