The 1919 solar eclipse expedition is a famous test of Einstein's general relativity theory. It is a story with many aspects: physics, astronomical measurements, scientific method, science and World War I.
Solar Eclipses Through Space and Time NASAJimmyChiang13
An educational slideshow by Lou Mayo of NASA and GSFC outlining the astronomy, mathematics, and culture of Solar Eclipses. The presentation balances historical perspective with current scientific research, and adds a healthy does of popular interest for non-scientific audiences.
The universe: why does it exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Where and why did structure arise: galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. This slide show is a full history of enquiry into how structure arises in the universe. It goes from Plato and Aristotle to the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011. The title Heart of Darkness refers to a book that has the full story: Heart of Darkness, by Jeremiah P Ostriker and Simon Mitton, ISBN 978 0691134307
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Intermediate-level understanding of cosmological concepts is recommended.
A biographical sketch of Abbé Georges Lemaître that emphasises his pioneering role in 1927 of explaining the expansion of the universe through an explosive model - the Fireworks Universe, later known as the Big Bang (1949)
The Ingenious Irish: how Irish inventors and scientists helped to shape the modern world.
Talk given at the EC's Joint Research Centre in Geel, Belgium, by Mary Mulvihill, Ingenious Ireland, at an event marking Ireland's EU presidency, in January 2013
Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics and the Open Journal of AstrophysicsPeter Coles
Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I shall discuss the ennvironment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I will also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics and the Open Journal of AstrophysicsPeter Coles
Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I shall discuss the ennvironment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I will also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
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Similar to Einstein, Eddington and the 1919 Eclipse Expeditions
The 1919 solar eclipse expedition is a famous test of Einstein's general relativity theory. It is a story with many aspects: physics, astronomical measurements, scientific method, science and World War I.
Solar Eclipses Through Space and Time NASAJimmyChiang13
An educational slideshow by Lou Mayo of NASA and GSFC outlining the astronomy, mathematics, and culture of Solar Eclipses. The presentation balances historical perspective with current scientific research, and adds a healthy does of popular interest for non-scientific audiences.
The universe: why does it exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Where and why did structure arise: galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. This slide show is a full history of enquiry into how structure arises in the universe. It goes from Plato and Aristotle to the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011. The title Heart of Darkness refers to a book that has the full story: Heart of Darkness, by Jeremiah P Ostriker and Simon Mitton, ISBN 978 0691134307
Measuring Galaxy Cluster Masses Using Gravitational LensingBlake Nicholson
A brief overview of the 'what', 'why' and 'how' around measuring cosmological objects using gravitational lensing.
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The Ingenious Irish: how Irish inventors and scientists helped to shape the modern world.
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Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I shall discuss the ennvironment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I will also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics and the Open Journal of AstrophysicsPeter Coles
Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I shall discuss the ennvironment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I will also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
Open Access Publishing and the Open Journal of AstrophysicsPeter Coles
A short talk given at the 'Astronomy Tea' at the University of Sydney, Australia, on February 19th 2024.
Abstract:
Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I shall discuss the ennvironment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I will also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
Talk given at the Institut de Physique Théorique, Paris-Saclay, 28th November 2023.
Over the past decade, the landscape of academic publishing has changed dramatically, with publishers moving from subscription-based models to "open access" in which papers are available to read free of charge. Many journals have made the decision to maintain revenue by charging authors for this, via so-called "Article Processing Charges" (APCs) which can run to $1000s, thereby closing the door on those without funds to pay. More recently, there have been moves to encourage researchers to publish using "Diamond" Open Access wherein papers are published without charge to the authors and without cost to the reader. In this talk I discuss the environment for Open Access Publishing in Astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp), which offers a not-for-profit service of this kind using an arXiv-overlay model. I also offer a possible vision of the future of truly "Open Access" publishing based on a global network of institutional and/or subject-based repositories.
Slides for seminar given at Cardiff University on 1st November 2023, covering Open Access publishing in astrophysics with reference to the Open Journal of Astrophysics.
Public evening talk given on 6th September 2023 at an event called "Weird Matter at Maynooth University". Euclid is the name of a new scientific mission from the European Space Agency, launched on July 1st, designed to explore the composition and evolution of the Universe. The Euclid mission takes its name from the ancient Greek mathematician regarded by many as the Father of geometry. Until the last century, Euclid’s theorems were assumed not just to be mathematical notions, but to describe the geometrical structure of the physical Universe. Einstein’s general theory of relativity swept that idea aside and gave us new ways of describing space, by unifying it with time, and by allowing it to be affected by matter in a manner very different from that formulated by Euclid. Over the past century, this theory has proved to be very effective at describing the properties of the Universe as observed by modern astronomical telescopes, while also suggesting the existence of dark matter and dark energy.
The Euclid telescope will create an enormous map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky. Euclid will explore how the Universe has expanded and how galaxies and clusters of galaxies have formed over cosmic history, and how space itself is distorted by these structures.
This talk discusses our modern ideas of space and time, how the Euclid mission will try to test whether or not they are correct and shed light on the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Talk given at the Irish National Astronomy Meeting: a discussion of recent developments in Open Access Publishing, with particular reference to Astrophysics and the Open Journal of Astrophysics
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Talk given at ITP 2022 at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Study on May 26th 2022. In this talk I discuss some applications of the Schrodinger-Poisson wave-mechanical approach to
cosmological structure formation. The most obvious use of this formalism is to "fuzzy" dark matter,
i.e. dark matter consisting of extremely light particles whose eective de Broglie wavelength is
suciently large to be astrophysically relevant, but it can be used to model more general scenarios
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Astrophysics & Cosmology Masterclass November 2021Peter Coles
Slides used during a Science Week event at Maynooth University on 12th November 2021. These are the slides for the Cosmology part of the event which was run by Peter Coles and John Regan of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University.
The O-level Latin examinations I took in 1979. There are three papers altogether, Paper 1 which was a language examination, and Paper 2 (in two Sections A and B) which were about set books: we did Book II of Virgil's Aeneid and Book V of Caesar's De Bello Gallico.
Slide 1: Title Slide
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Slide 2: Introduction to Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Definition: Extrachromosomal inheritance refers to the transmission of genetic material that is not found within the nucleus.
Key Components: Involves genes located in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and plasmids.
Slide 3: Mitochondrial Inheritance
Mitochondria: Organelles responsible for energy production.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in mitochondria.
Inheritance Pattern: Maternally inherited, meaning it is passed from mothers to all their offspring.
Diseases: Examples include Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and mitochondrial myopathy.
Slide 4: Chloroplast Inheritance
Chloroplasts: Organelles responsible for photosynthesis in plants.
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in chloroplasts.
Inheritance Pattern: Often maternally inherited in most plants, but can vary in some species.
Examples: Variegation in plants, where leaf color patterns are determined by chloroplast DNA.
Slide 5: Plasmid Inheritance
Plasmids: Small, circular DNA molecules found in bacteria and some eukaryotes.
Features: Can carry antibiotic resistance genes and can be transferred between cells through processes like conjugation.
Significance: Important in biotechnology for gene cloning and genetic engineering.
Slide 6: Mechanisms of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Non-Mendelian Patterns: Do not follow Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
Cytoplasmic Segregation: During cell division, organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts are randomly distributed to daughter cells.
Heteroplasmy: Presence of more than one type of organellar genome within a cell, leading to variation in expression.
Slide 7: Examples of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Four O’clock Plant (Mirabilis jalapa): Shows variegated leaves due to different cpDNA in leaf cells.
Petite Mutants in Yeast: Result from mutations in mitochondrial DNA affecting respiration.
Slide 8: Importance of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Evolution: Provides insight into the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
Medicine: Understanding mitochondrial inheritance helps in diagnosing and treating mitochondrial diseases.
Agriculture: Chloroplast inheritance can be used in plant breeding and genetic modification.
Slide 9: Recent Research and Advances
Gene Editing: Techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 are being used to edit mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA.
Therapies: Development of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) for preventing mitochondrial diseases.
Slide 10: Conclusion
Summary: Extrachromosomal inheritance involves the transmission of genetic material outside the nucleus and plays a crucial role in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology.
Future Directions: Continued research and technological advancements hold promise for new treatments and applications.
Slide 11: Questions and Discussion
Invite Audience: Open the floor for any questions or further discussion on the topic.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE SAMPLE RETURN.Sérgio Sacani
The return of a sample of near-surface atmosphere from Mars would facilitate answers to several first-order science questions surrounding the formation and evolution of the planet. One of the important aspects of terrestrial planet formation in general is the role that primary atmospheres played in influencing the chemistry and structure of the planets and their antecedents. Studies of the martian atmosphere can be used to investigate the role of a primary atmosphere in its history. Atmosphere samples would also inform our understanding of the near-surface chemistry of the planet, and ultimately the prospects for life. High-precision isotopic analyses of constituent gases are needed to address these questions, requiring that the analyses are made on returned samples rather than in situ.
Introduction:
RNA interference (RNAi) or Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing (PTGS) is an important biological process for modulating eukaryotic gene expression.
It is highly conserved process of posttranscriptional gene silencing by which double stranded RNA (dsRNA) causes sequence-specific degradation of mRNA sequences.
dsRNA-induced gene silencing (RNAi) is reported in a wide range of eukaryotes ranging from worms, insects, mammals and plants.
This process mediates resistance to both endogenous parasitic and exogenous pathogenic nucleic acids, and regulates the expression of protein-coding genes.
What are small ncRNAs?
micro RNA (miRNA)
short interfering RNA (siRNA)
Properties of small non-coding RNA:
Involved in silencing mRNA transcripts.
Called “small” because they are usually only about 21-24 nucleotides long.
Synthesized by first cutting up longer precursor sequences (like the 61nt one that Lee discovered).
Silence an mRNA by base pairing with some sequence on the mRNA.
Discovery of siRNA?
The first small RNA:
In 1993 Rosalind Lee (Victor Ambros lab) was studying a non- coding gene in C. elegans, lin-4, that was involved in silencing of another gene, lin-14, at the appropriate time in the
development of the worm C. elegans.
Two small transcripts of lin-4 (22nt and 61nt) were found to be complementary to a sequence in the 3' UTR of lin-14.
Because lin-4 encoded no protein, she deduced that it must be these transcripts that are causing the silencing by RNA-RNA interactions.
Types of RNAi ( non coding RNA)
MiRNA
Length (23-25 nt)
Trans acting
Binds with target MRNA in mismatch
Translation inhibition
Si RNA
Length 21 nt.
Cis acting
Bind with target Mrna in perfect complementary sequence
Piwi-RNA
Length ; 25 to 36 nt.
Expressed in Germ Cells
Regulates trnasposomes activity
MECHANISM OF RNAI:
First the double-stranded RNA teams up with a protein complex named Dicer, which cuts the long RNA into short pieces.
Then another protein complex called RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex) discards one of the two RNA strands.
The RISC-docked, single-stranded RNA then pairs with the homologous mRNA and destroys it.
THE RISC COMPLEX:
RISC is large(>500kD) RNA multi- protein Binding complex which triggers MRNA degradation in response to MRNA
Unwinding of double stranded Si RNA by ATP independent Helicase
Active component of RISC is Ago proteins( ENDONUCLEASE) which cleave target MRNA.
DICER: endonuclease (RNase Family III)
Argonaute: Central Component of the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC)
One strand of the dsRNA produced by Dicer is retained in the RISC complex in association with Argonaute
ARGONAUTE PROTEIN :
1.PAZ(PIWI/Argonaute/ Zwille)- Recognition of target MRNA
2.PIWI (p-element induced wimpy Testis)- breaks Phosphodiester bond of mRNA.)RNAse H activity.
MiRNA:
The Double-stranded RNAs are naturally produced in eukaryotic cells during development, and they have a key role in regulating gene expression .
Seminar of U.V. Spectroscopy by SAMIR PANDASAMIR PANDA
Spectroscopy is a branch of science dealing the study of interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflect spectroscopy in the UV-VIS spectral region.
Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is an analytical method that can measure the amount of light received by the analyte.
Nutraceutical market, scope and growth: Herbal drug technologyLokesh Patil
As consumer awareness of health and wellness rises, the nutraceutical market—which includes goods like functional meals, drinks, and dietary supplements that provide health advantages beyond basic nutrition—is growing significantly. As healthcare expenses rise, the population ages, and people want natural and preventative health solutions more and more, this industry is increasing quickly. Further driving market expansion are product formulation innovations and the use of cutting-edge technology for customized nutrition. With its worldwide reach, the nutraceutical industry is expected to keep growing and provide significant chances for research and investment in a number of categories, including vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and herbal supplements.
The increased availability of biomedical data, particularly in the public domain, offers the opportunity to better understand human health and to develop effective therapeutics for a wide range of unmet medical needs. However, data scientists remain stymied by the fact that data remain hard to find and to productively reuse because data and their metadata i) are wholly inaccessible, ii) are in non-standard or incompatible representations, iii) do not conform to community standards, and iv) have unclear or highly restricted terms and conditions that preclude legitimate reuse. These limitations require a rethink on data can be made machine and AI-ready - the key motivation behind the FAIR Guiding Principles. Concurrently, while recent efforts have explored the use of deep learning to fuse disparate data into predictive models for a wide range of biomedical applications, these models often fail even when the correct answer is already known, and fail to explain individual predictions in terms that data scientists can appreciate. These limitations suggest that new methods to produce practical artificial intelligence are still needed.
In this talk, I will discuss our work in (1) building an integrative knowledge infrastructure to prepare FAIR and "AI-ready" data and services along with (2) neurosymbolic AI methods to improve the quality of predictions and to generate plausible explanations. Attention is given to standards, platforms, and methods to wrangle knowledge into simple, but effective semantic and latent representations, and to make these available into standards-compliant and discoverable interfaces that can be used in model building, validation, and explanation. Our work, and those of others in the field, creates a baseline for building trustworthy and easy to deploy AI models in biomedicine.
Bio
Dr. Michel Dumontier is the Distinguished Professor of Data Science at Maastricht University, founder and executive director of the Institute of Data Science, and co-founder of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data principles. His research explores socio-technological approaches for responsible discovery science, which includes collaborative multi-modal knowledge graphs, privacy-preserving distributed data mining, and AI methods for drug discovery and personalized medicine. His work is supported through the Dutch National Research Agenda, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Horizon Europe, the European Open Science Cloud, the US National Institutes of Health, and a Marie-Curie Innovative Training Network. He is the editor-in-chief for the journal Data Science and is internationally recognized for his contributions in bioinformatics, biomedical informatics, and semantic technologies including ontologies and linked data.
Cancer cell metabolism: special Reference to Lactate PathwayAADYARAJPANDEY1
Normal Cell Metabolism:
Cellular respiration describes the series of steps that cells use to break down sugar and other chemicals to get the energy we need to function.
Energy is stored in the bonds of glucose and when glucose is broken down, much of that energy is released.
Cell utilize energy in the form of ATP.
The first step of respiration is called glycolysis. In a series of steps, glycolysis breaks glucose into two smaller molecules - a chemical called pyruvate. A small amount of ATP is formed during this process.
Most healthy cells continue the breakdown in a second process, called the Kreb's cycle. The Kreb's cycle allows cells to “burn” the pyruvates made in glycolysis to get more ATP.
The last step in the breakdown of glucose is called oxidative phosphorylation (Ox-Phos).
It takes place in specialized cell structures called mitochondria. This process produces a large amount of ATP. Importantly, cells need oxygen to complete oxidative phosphorylation.
If a cell completes only glycolysis, only 2 molecules of ATP are made per glucose. However, if the cell completes the entire respiration process (glycolysis - Kreb's - oxidative phosphorylation), about 36 molecules of ATP are created, giving it much more energy to use.
IN CANCER CELL:
Unlike healthy cells that "burn" the entire molecule of sugar to capture a large amount of energy as ATP, cancer cells are wasteful.
Cancer cells only partially break down sugar molecules. They overuse the first step of respiration, glycolysis. They frequently do not complete the second step, oxidative phosphorylation.
This results in only 2 molecules of ATP per each glucose molecule instead of the 36 or so ATPs healthy cells gain. As a result, cancer cells need to use a lot more sugar molecules to get enough energy to survive.
Unlike healthy cells that "burn" the entire molecule of sugar to capture a large amount of energy as ATP, cancer cells are wasteful.
Cancer cells only partially break down sugar molecules. They overuse the first step of respiration, glycolysis. They frequently do not complete the second step, oxidative phosphorylation.
This results in only 2 molecules of ATP per each glucose molecule instead of the 36 or so ATPs healthy cells gain. As a result, cancer cells need to use a lot more sugar molecules to get enough energy to survive.
introduction to WARBERG PHENOMENA:
WARBURG EFFECT Usually, cancer cells are highly glycolytic (glucose addiction) and take up more glucose than do normal cells from outside.
Otto Heinrich Warburg (; 8 October 1883 – 1 August 1970) In 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme.
WARNBURG EFFECT : cancer cells under aerobic (well-oxygenated) conditions to metabolize glucose to lactate (aerobic glycolysis) is known as the Warburg effect. Warburg made the observation that tumor slices consume glucose and secrete lactate at a higher rate than normal tissues.
2. “..the Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite,
absolutely perfect…He endures forever and is
everywhere present; and by existing always and
everywhere, he constitutes duration and
space..”
Newton, Principia (General Scholium).
Absolute Space, Absolute Time
3.
4.
5. Light Bending..a comedy of
errors.
• Newton 1704 “Do not Bodies act upon Light at a
distance, and by their action bend its Rays?”
• 1802 Johann Georg von Soldner, calculates bending
of light by the Sun: 0.87 seconds of arc
• 1907 Einstein thinks about light bending, but then
shelves the idea.
• 1911 Einstein tries again using “E=mc2”; gets
Soldner’s answer: 0.87 seconds of arc.
• 1915 Einstein tries again, and finds a mistake - a
factor of two. The new value is 1.74 seconds of arc.
8. Eddington and the Expeditions
• Arthur Stanley Eddington was born in 1882.
• In 1912 becomes Plumian Professor of Astronomy
and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge.
• Earlier in 1912 Eddington had been involved in an
Eclipse expedition to Argentina. It rained.
• 1916 de Sitter tells him about Einstein’s prediction
and suggests the idea of light bending measurements
during an eclipse.
• 1917, Frank Watson Dyson, the Astronomer Royal
realises the eclipse of 29 May 1919 would be perfect.
9. The Eclipse of 1919
• Date: 29 May 1919
• Path of Totality is across the South
Atlantic from Sobral to Principe
• Duration is long…7 minutes or so at
Principe.
• Near the Sun during totality was not just
one star, but a cluster of stars: The
Hyades
10.
11. War and Peace
• BUT Eddington was a Quaker, and therefore
a pacifist.
• The First World War had started in 1914, but
conscription was not introduced in the British
Army until 1916.
• Eddington refused to be drafted…
• He was saved by a deal by Dyson, which
protected him on condition he agreed to lead
an expedition in 1919 if the war was over.
12. The Equipment
• Funding: £100 for equipment, £1000 for travel
and labour costs
• Two “astrographic” object glasses, one to
Principe (Oxford), Sobral (Greenwich), both
stopped down to 8 inches.
• A 4 inch telescope taken to Sobral as a
backup
• All were equipped with coelostats
• The two astrographic object glasses were
mounted in stainless steel tubes
13.
14. The Irish Connections
• All the optical equipment was made by Grubb
in Dublin.
• The Oxford astrographic moved to Keele
University in 1962
• The RGO astrographic moved from
Greenwich to Herstmonceux
• The 4-inch telescope and coelostat are on
display at Dunsink Observatory.
22. The Results
• Eddington went to Principe, off the coast of (then)
Spanish Guinea
• Crommelin went to Sobral (Northern Brazil).
• Eddington was nearly rained out
“THROUGH CLOUD. HOPEFUL”
• Crommelin was luckier “ECLIPSE SPLENDID”
• In the end Eddington got 1.610.40 seconds,
Crommelin 1.980.16
• After some controversy, Einstein was declared the
winner!
23. The Controversy
• Principe astrographic: 2 “poor” plates. ( =1.62 ±
0.45)
• Sobral astrographic: 18 “poor” plates ( = 0.86 ±
0.48)
• Sobral 4”: 8 “good” plates: ( = 1.98 ± 0.18)
• Eddington included the Principe results, despite not
really getting enough measurements for an
astrometric solution
• The Sobral astrographic suffered from serious optical
problems but plates were remeasured in 1979:
=1.55 ± 0.34
24. The Aftermath
• This made Einstein more
famous than any scientist
before or since.
• Reconciliation of Britain and
Germany
• What might have been…the
two expeditions of 1912 and
1914 failed to take
measurements when the
prediction was wrong!
• Much better measurements
were made in 1922, and
later using radio
observations.
25. Curiosities
• Einstein became the most famous
scientist ever - it was not 1905, but
1919, that made Einstein a household
name.
• What would have happened if the
measurement had been made when
Einstein had the wrong answer?