Eventually, vindication for Einstein’s theories comes from Eddington’s photographs of the solar eclipse, taken in Principe.
It is portrayed as an instance of the pursuit of science bridging divides authored by man. At the height of war, this transaction becomes a case of German theory and British quest to test the theory, both Eddington and Einstein quite unpopular in their respective scientific and social communities. Shifted to Berlin from Zurich, he has Max Planck as intermediary to engage with the establishment but till his son dies in the war, Planck too appears more or less one with the prevailing tide.ĭespite the challenges he faces in Cambridge, Eddington doggedly pursues his study of Einstein’s work and initiates a correspondence with the German scientist. On the other hand, in a Germany welded to emergent militarism with scientists and industrialists vowing allegiance to Kaiser’s army, Einstein, his head lost to studying universe and averse to the barbarism of war, is an isolated person. And if that proves to be so, Newton risks losing his place on the pedestal. Already despised for being Quaker by faith and hence pacifist unable to fight, Eddington makes life doubly difficult by his lingering suspicion that Einstein may well be right. World War I has commenced and with it, Britain and Germany are increasingly foes.Ĭaught in the throes of war, neither country is free of social currents that encourage a collective, nationalist view. For the British, Newton is stamp of their scientific authority.
The Principe expedition is the culmination of events underway from five years before, starting with Eddington’s appointment as Chief Astronomer at Cambridge and the assignment entrusted him to study Einstein’s work and still defend the principles put forth by Sir Isaac Newton. Here, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington has arrived to photograph the solar eclipse of the photographs, he believes, will prove or disprove Einstein’s suggestion that starlight bends, a prediction within his general theory of relativity. The film starts in Principe, part of today’s Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of Africa.
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