Milne's work on the atmospheres of stars extended work done earlier by Schuster in 1905 and by Schwarzschild in 1906. Schuster had studied the transfer of radiation where it was assumed that no absorption was taking place in the atmosphere, while Schwarzschild studied equilibrium states for radiation in an absorbing atmosphere.
Milne ng trabaho sa atmospheres ng stars extended trabaho done Schuster sa pamamagitan ng mas maaga sa 1905 at sa pamamagitan ng Schwarzschild sa 1906. Schuster had-aral ang paglipat ng radiation na kung saan ito ay assumed na walang Absorsyon ay dinadala ng lugar sa himpapawid, habang Schwarzschild-aral ng balanse estado para sa radiation sa isang lubhang kaganyak-ganyak na kapaligiran.