100 years of Eddington´s observations in Príncipe
"Today marks the 100th anniversary of the 1919 eclipse and Eddington´s observations at ilha do Príncipe"
During the solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, astronomer Arthur Eddington performed on Principe Island astronomical observations that were the first experimental confirmation of Einstein´s Theory of General Relativity. Eddington led a joint expedition of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society and sent another team to make observations in Sobral, Brazil. For the first time, the deflection of light by gravity was observed and measured, and this made newspaper headlines.
In 2009, LIP celebrated the 90th anniversary of Eddington´s observations with a scientific conference, a school and an exhibition in S. Tomé e Príncipe.
The exhibition, updated with the latest discoveries, will be part of the Sundy Science Space, inaugurated on the day of the centenary at the place where the observations were made.
In the last photo, we see our colleauges Sofia Andringa (LIP/SPF) and Gonçalo Figueira (IPFN/SPF), who were deeply involved in the preparation of the exhibition, with a group of visitors.
The celebrations at Princípe island are taking place since the beginning of the week. The program can be found here.
On May 30th the 3rd Physics Conference of the Portuguese Speaking Countries will start in S. Tomé, where the Union of Physicists of the Portuguese Speaking Countries will be created.
Our colleague Sofia Andringa will present in this conference a contribution on the Portuguese Language Teachers Programme at CERN.