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Astro*Dictionary by Michael Erlewine

 

 

 

 

1 article for "Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley"

Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley [DeVore]

(1882-1944) English astronomer and physicist. Born at Kendal, Westmoreland; died at Cambridge.

His major contribution to astronomy was his theoretical investigation of the interior of stars. He held that the expansive force of heat and radiation pressure countered the contracting force of gravity. In the early 1920s, he showed the Sun's interior must reach into the millions of degrees. This result made the catastrophic theories of evolution of the solar system most unlikely as, if matter had been pulled from the interior of the Sun (as suggested by Jeans), it would expand violently into a thin gas, and never condense into planets.

With Russell and Whitehead, Eddington was among the first to appreciate the importance of the relativity theories of Einstein. He authored several books on astronomy for the layman, including The Expanding Universe (1933).

See also: ♦ Einstein, Albert ♦ Sitter, Willem de

 

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