207,380 profiles ranked

Arthur Eddington

British astrophysicist (1882-1944) · United Kingdom · Scientists · Died at 61

Arthur Eddington is read about 315 times a day, in 61 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?
Compare

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.

ScientistsScientistAstronomyPhilosophyPhysicsMathematicsUnited KingdomEurope

A life in dates

1944Died22 November 1944“I am continually trying to find out why people find the procedure obscure.”In their wordsLetter to Dingle, 1944. Quoted in Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan. Eddington: The most distinguished astrophysicist of his time. Cambridge

1938Order of MeritAward1935“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".”In their wordsNew Pathways in Science (1935) Ch. IV The End of the World, p. 62

1934“Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth.”In their wordsNew Pathways in Science: Messenger Lectures 1934 (1947), p. 211.

1933Messenger LecturesAward1928Prix Jules JanssenAwardRoyal MedalAward1927“I think that science would never have achieved much progress if it had always imagined unknown obstacles hidden round every corner.”In their wordsStars and Atoms (1927), Lecture 1

1926“A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us.”In their wordsThe Internal Constitution of Stars (1926)

Royal Society Bakerian MedalAward1924Bruce MedalAwardGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical SocietyAwardHenry Draper MedalAward1922“The present revolution of scientific thought follows in natural sequence on the great revolutions at earlier epochs in the history of science.”In their words24 May 1922The Theory of Relativity and its Influence on Scientific Thought (24 May 1922), p. 31-32

1919Prix Alfred-de-PontécoulantAward1914Fellow of the Royal SocietyAward1907Smith's PrizeAward1882Born28 December 1882

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Arthur Stanley EddingtonArthur Stanley Eddington1919 eclipse negative1919 eclipse negative1919 eclipse positive1919 eclipse positivePhysicistsinLeidenPhysicistsinLeidenArthur Stanley Eddington Bonn 1913Arthur Stanley Eddington Bonn 1913Arthur Stanley Eddington by Samuel Johnson Woolf, 1934, charcoal and chalk on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery as a gift of Time magazine - NPG-NPG 78 TC344Eddington-000001Arthur Stanley Eddington by Samuel Johnson Woolf, 1934, charcoal and chalk on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery as a gift of Time magazine - NPG-NPG 78 TC344Eddington-000001De huldiging van Professor Lorentz bij de Hollandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in 1925De huldiging van Professor Lorentz bij de Hollandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in 1925Eclipse instruments at SobralEclipse instruments at Sobral

In their own words 10

,
Arthur Eddington
,
10 statements, newest first

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

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

  2. 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".

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

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

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

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Order of Merit1938
Messenger Lectures1933
Prix Jules Janssen1928
Royal Medal1928
Royal Society Bakerian Medal1926
Bruce Medal1924
Henry Draper Medal1924
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society1924
Prix Alfred-de-Pontécoulant1919
Fellow of the Royal Society1914
Smith's Prize1907
Honorary Doctor of the University of Calcutta
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Knight Bachelor
Swarthmore Lecture
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi

Family

Parents

Arthur Eddington
Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

About this person

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 a solar eclipse, producing one of the earliest confirmations of the theory. He became a celebrated populariser of Einstein's work and later a philosopher of science, speculating on quantum mechanics' implications for mind and matter. The Eddington limit - the natural ceiling on stellar luminosity and radiation from accretion - bears his name. He died on 22 November 1944.

Country
United Kingdom
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1882 to 1944 · aged 61

In common with Arthur

Fred HoyleBoth received Bruce MedalArno Allan PenziasBoth received Henry Draper MedalJim PeeblesBoth received Bruce MedalMartin RyleBoth received Henry Draper MedalBronisław MalinowskiBoth received Messenger Lectures

Scientists from the United Kingdom 1

Jocelyn Bell Burnell59.4

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.