The New York herald., 1922-09-21
SUNS ECLIPSE TODAY
TESTS EINSTEIN IDEA
Will Demonstrate Whether
Light From Stars Is Bent
by Gravity.

This is the day when the stars in their
courses are to be summoned as witnesses
to the truth or falsity of the Einstein
theory of relativity. No less than eight
very expensive astronomical expeditions
have reached their goals. and are posted
in Australia or on islands OF the Indian
Ocean with telescopes and cameras
trained on the sun, which for five min
utes and eighteen seconds will be in total
eclipse.
If they find that starlight is bent to
certain extent while passing the sun
Einstein will be vindicated. If 1t Is not
Einstein may be allowed to live, but the
number of persons who pretend to under
stand his theory will be considerably
diminished.
Unfortunately, persons in this part OF
the world will not see even fractional
eclipse. The shadow of the moon viii
touch the earth in Abyssinia, race across
Somaliland. and. traversing the Indian
Ocean far to the south Of Asia, VIII
scrape the northern part Of Australia
and vanish off Norfolk Island, northwest
of New Zealand. 1t will be a most un-
sociable eclipse but as it's the best that
can be afforded this year and as the
Einstein theory is on everybody's mind.
the astronomers and astronomical phys
icists have spent their last dollar to be
on hand.
Americans I'm Australia.
The members of the American expe-
dfton are on Ninety Mile Beach IN
northwest Australia. The British are on
Christmas Island $50 miles south OF
Java, famous for it's tree climbing crabs,
and SO are the German and Dutch sci
entists. The island is a speck only
twelve miles long and eight miles wide,
but it Is in the middle of the path OF
the eclipse and is regarded as perhaps
the most favorable point for observation.
although the Americans in Australia will
get a longer view Of the spectacle and
are less likely to have cloud interference
The Adelaide Observatory has a party
in the interior of Australia in the dryest
desert Of Australasia, and seem to have
the best chance of having no clouds come
between them and the sun.
The American party is headed by DR..
W. w. Campbell, director of Lick OBJ
servatory. who, after studying photo
graphs of various eclipses, felt that he
had partly verified Prof. Einsten's con-
clusions The expedition is financed by
William Fl. Crocker. 1t left San Fran
cisco in three sections. 1t took twelve
tons of apparatus and equipment, includ-
-Four cameras will be devoted to the
Einstein problem. The time of the
eclipse at the spot where the Americans
will see ii is 40 +. Nj.
Photography to Aid.
When the sun is wholly eclipsed the
stars in its neighborhood can be photo
graphed. The photographs will be COM
pared with others Of the same region
of the sky when the sun is not present.
If on the two sets of photographs the
stars occupy the same relative position
an absence OF proof of the Einstein the
ory is indicated.
Einstein said that the light from
star passing heavy mass like the
sum- would be found to be detected from
its course, drawn i'm by gravity. to
certain specified degree He said that
when the stars appearing near the dark
ened disc of the sun were photographed
they would appear as IL pushed out of
their positions because of this bending
of the rays, 1t had previously been
calculated that if light really had mass
and was not merely vibration the pull
ing force of tho sun would bend it to
some extent But as Einstein figures
IL the bend is really twice as great as
the application of Newton's law would
make ii.
lIlat IS WHAT the dStIoHoiHeIS are tiJ
ing to ascertain to-day-whether Elm
stein is right. They have to seize an
eclipse where they can find 1t. Evidence
in Efnstein's favor was found by the
British royal astronomical expeditions
of 1919. but it has not been accepted by
all scientists. The total eclipse of Sep
tember, 1928, will give a better oppor-
tunity than to-day's, for the shadow
will cross southern California, where
atmospheric conditions are good and
rain improbable.