“This is the most important result obtained in connection with the theory of gravitation since Newton’s day. Einstein’s reasoning is the result of one of the highest achievements of human thought.”
These words were uttered by Sir J. J. Thomson, the president of the Royal Society, at a meeting of that body held on November 6, 1919, to discuss the results of the Eclipse Expedition.
Einstein another Newton—and this from the lips of J. J. Thomson, England’s most illustrious physicist! If ever man weighed words carefully it is this Cambridge professor, whose own researches have assured him immortality for all time.
What has this Albert Einstein done to merit such extraordinary praise? With the world in turmoil, with classes and races in a death struggle, with millions suffering and starving, why do we find time to turn our attention to this Jew? His ideas have no bearing on Europe’s calamity. They will not add one bushel of wheat to starving populations.
The answer is not hard to find. Men come and men go, but the mystery of the universe remains. It is Einstein’s glory to have given us a deeper insight into the universe. Our scientists are Huxley’s agnostics: they do not deny activities beyond our planet; they merely center their attention on the knowable on this earth. Our philosophers, on the other hand, go far afield. Some of them soar so high that, like one poet’s opinion of Shelley, the bubble bursts. Einstein, using the tools of the scientist—the experimentalist—builded a skyscraper which ultimately reached the philosophical school. His rôle is the rôle of alcohol in causing water and ether (the anæsthetic) to mix. Ether and water will mix no better than oil and water, without the presence of alcohol; in its presence a uniform mixture is obtained.
The Object of the Eclipse Expedition. Einstein prophesied that a ray of light passing near the sun would be pulled out of its course, due to the action of gravity. He went even further. He predicted how much out of its course the ray would be deflected. This prediction was based on a theory of gravitation which Einstein had developed in great mathematical detail. The object of the British Eclipse Expedition was either to prove or disprove Einstein’s assumption.
The Result of the Expedition. Einstein’s prophecy was fulfilled almost to the letter.
The Significance of the Result. Since Einstein’s theory of gravitation is intimately associated with certain revolutionary ideas concerning time and space, and, therefore, with Fundamentals of the Universe, the net result of the expedition was to strengthen our belief in the validity of his new view of the universe.
It is our intention in the following pages to discuss the expedition and the larger aspects of Einstein’s theory that follow from it. But before we do so we must have a clear idea of our solar system.
Our Solar System. In the center of our system is the sun, a flaming mass of fire, much bigger than our own earth, and very, very far away. The sun has its family of eight planets—of which the earth is one—which travel around the sun; and around some of the planets there travel satellites, or moons. The earth has such a satellite, the moon.