Repository logo
 

The 1919 eclipse results that verified general relativity and their later detractors: a story re-told

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Tausch-Pebody, Gudrun 

Abstract

jats:pEinstein became world famous on 7 November 1919, following press publication of a meeting held in London on 6 November 1919 where the results were announced of two British expeditions led by Eddington, Dyson and Davidson to measure how much background starlight is bent as it passes the Sun. Three data sets were obtained: two showed the measured deflection matched the theoretical prediction of Einstein's 1915 Theory of General Relativity, and became the official result; the third was discarded as defective.</jats:p> jats:pAt the time, the experimental result was accepted by the expert astronomical community. However, in 1980 a study by philosophers of science Earman and Glymour claimed that the data selection in the 1919 analysis was flawed and that the discarded data set was fully valid and was not consistent with the Einstein prediction, and that, therefore, the overall result did not verify General Relativity. This claim, and the resulting accusation of Eddington's bias, was repeated with exaggeration in later literature and has become ubiquitous.</jats:p> jats:pThe 1919 and 1980 analyses of the same data provide two discordant conclusions. We reanalyse the 1919 data, and identify the error that undermines the conclusions of Earman and Glymour.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

twentieth century science, Sir Arthur Eddington, General Relativity, bias, research methodology, nullius in verba

Journal Title

NOTES AND RECORDS-THE ROYAL SOCIETY JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0035-9149
1743-0178

Volume Title

76

Publisher

The Royal Society
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Research Infrastructures (RI) (730890)