Arthur Eddington

British astrophysicist (1882-1944)

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Lived 1882–1944, aged 62United Kingdom

United Kingdom ScientistsScientist

Wikipedia
61 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1882–1944
Aged 62
Awards
16
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He told the world how stars burn — fusion of hydrogen into helium — before anyone had proof, and then sailed to an island off Africa to photograph starlight bending around the sun, handing Einstein his first empirical win.

Biography

About

Arthur Stanley Eddington was born on 28 December 1882 in England and trained as both astrophysicist and mathematician. Around 1920, when the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery, he published "The Internal Constitution of the Stars" and correctly speculated that stars fuse hydrogen into helium — foreshadowing the discovery of nuclear fusion by years. After World War I fractured scientific exchange between England and Germany, he wrote articles that introduced Einstein's general relativity to English speakers, then led an expedition to the Island of Príncipe on 29 May 1919 to observe…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Arthur Eddington

Arthur Eddington

said1944

I am continually trying to find out why people find the procedure obscure.

— Letter to Dingle, 1944. Quoted in Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan. Eddington: The most distinguished astrophysicist of his time. Cambridge

Arthur Eddington

said1935

There once was a brainy baboon, Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, "It appears That in billions of years I shall certainly hit on a tune".

— New Pathways in Science (1935) Ch. IV The End of the World, p. 62

Arthur Eddington

said1935

It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset.

— New Pathways in Science (1935) Ch. V Indeterminacy and Quantum Theory, p. 105

Arthur Eddington

said1934

Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth.

— New Pathways in Science: Messenger Lectures 1934 (1947), p. 211.

Arthur Eddington

said1933

To the pure geometer the radius of curvature is an incidental characteristic — like the grin of the Cheshire cat. To the physicist it is an indispensable characteristic.

— The Expanding Universe (1933), Ch. IV The Universe and the Atom

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