The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-09-11
Science
TWELVE great landmarks in
sBY DAVID DIETZ

TWELVE great landmarks in
Il mans achievement Of a scien-
tifc knowledge Of the stars are list
ed bv Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington,
famous astronomer of Cambridge,
England
Sir Arthur. one of the most
brilliant of living scientists, has
himself contributed much TO the
recent progress Of stellar knowledge.
Eddingtons landmarks are as fol-
lows:
l. Discovery of the first variabls
star by David Fabricius in 1896
2. Discovery Of the first double
star by Jean Baptists Riccioh in
1850
3. Discovery that the stars, hith-
erto regarded as fixed, actually
possessed real motions of their own,
by Edmund HALEY, after whom Hal
ley's comet was named in 1913
4 Discovery of the motion of the
solar system through the galaxy Of
stars, by Sir William Herschel IN
1888.
s. First measurements OF the dis
lance to a star. made independently
by Bessel and Henderson in 1889
6. Application of the spectroscope
to the stars by William Higgins in
1882.
T. Application of photography to
the stars in 1882.
s. Applications of the spectros-
cope to the measurement of the mo-
tions Of stars in the line of sight in
1888
g. Discovery that the stars were
moving in two great streams, by J.
G.. Kapteyn in 1904.
TO- Divisions of stars into giants
and dwarfs in 1913 as a result Of
the researches of Russell and
Hertzprung.
H. First direct determination of
the diameter of a star by the Mi
chelson interferometer, made at Mt.
Wilson in 1920 by J. A. Anderson.
ID Application Of the theory of
/ ionization to the stars by M. N.
Saba in 1920.
Eddington'S list is an interesting
one. Analysis of it yields many in
teresting facts about the progress
of science.
THE first important discovery,
l. that of the existence Of vari-
able stars, was made by Fabricius in
1896, before the invention of the
telescope.
Variable stars are stars which do
not shine with constant brilliance,
but instead vary in brightness over
a period of time, in some cases a
few hours in some cases number
Of days.
Fabricius, from faithful observa-
ton of the heavens, discovered that
a star in the constellation of Cetus,
the whale" varied in brilliance.
He called it Mira, meaning the
wonderful"
No other great advance in know
ledge of the stars came until
the invention of the telescope
1t was in 1910 that Calico turned
his little telescope upon the heavens
for the first time. Until then no
man had seen more of the heavens
than is visible to the unaided eye.
Now it was possible for man to
scrutinize the heavens through a
powerful visual aid.
II
TIME size of telescopes was in
Il creased rapidly and in 1850, the
second great landmark on Edding-
tons list, Riccioh discovered the
existence Of double stars.
A double star is really two stars
close together. which because of
their immense distance from the
earth, appear to the unaided eye as
a single star.
The discovery of variable stars
and double stars are the only i'm
pOrtant events prior to the begin
ming of the nineteenth century, and
both of these discoveries were the
simpler types of discoveries. namely,
the noting of the existence OF GER
tain types of objects.
1t is not until the nineteenth CEN
tury that beginning is made Of
the problem of unraveling the mys-
teries of the stellar universe. The
first important step, the measure
ment of stellar distances, came in
| 1899.
It is interesting to note that the
last four of Eddingtons landmarks
all lie within the twentieth century.