The expanding universe / by Sir Arthur Eddington.

  • Arthur Eddington
Date:
1940
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The expanding universe / by Sir Arthur Eddington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/138 (page 6)
    of the blundering detectives is here summing up what has been found out and where the strongest suspicion lies. You read his discussion, not because you have confidence that he has reached the point of identifying the criminal, but because it is presumably a necessary stage in the solution of the mystery. In real life (unlike the stories) it is possible that the suspicion already rests on the right person; be that as it may, it is worth while to set forth and analyse the present state of the inquiry. In the astronomical part of the book I follow generally the theory of Lemaitre; there is a difference in our views of evolution (see p. 61), but from my point of view this is a very minor divergence. Several counter theories of the apparent recession of the nebulas have been proposed; an explanation of my general attitude towards them is given on p. 62. The book will be found to be of uneven difficulty; and the reader who finds himself out of his depth in Chapter II may discover that the going becomes easier farther on. I have endeavoured to make the explana¬ tions as simple as possible; but the book is not in¬ tended solely as a semi-popular exposition, and I have not hesitated to plunge into matters of extreme difficulty when it seemed necessary for an adequate discussion of the problem. In remembrance of the occasion of its delivery, I add here the opening words of the lecture: This is an International Conference and I have chosen an international subject. I shall speak of the theoretical work of Einstein of Germany, de Sitter of Holland, Lemaitre of Belgium. For observational data I turn to the Americans, Slipher, Hubble, Humason, recalling, however, that the vitally important datum of distance is found by a method which we owe to Hertzsprung of Denmark. As I must not trouble you with mathematical analysis, I have to pass over Levi-Civita of Italy, whose methods and ideas we employ. But I must refer especially to the new interest which arises in the subject through its linkage to wave-mechanics; as a representative name