How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I
Starred review from March 25, 2019
Stanley (Huxley’s Church and Maxwell’s Demon), an NYU science history professor, places Einstein’s theory of relativity in valuable historical context in this impressive work of popular science. A century after its formulation, the theory stands as “one of the essential pillars” of modern scientific knowledge; but initially, Stanley explains, it went largely unnoticed. Thanks to the closed borders and national hatreds of WWI, it was blocked from wide dissemination outside Germany, particularly in Britain, where all things German were regarded with suspicion. Stanley dramatically relates how, by chance, in 1916, a summary of Einstein’s examination of time and space was received by one of the few British scientists both capable of and open to weighing the theory on its own merits, astronomer Stanley Eddington, who, like Einstein, was a pacifist and internationalist convinced that scientific discovery had no borders. He became the theory’s champion, and in 1919 performed an experiment during a solar eclipse to verify that, as Einstein thought, light has weight. Stanley’s well-told and impressively readable chronicle delivers a wider, and still relevant, message that how science is performed is inextricable from other aspects of people’s lives. Agent: Jeff Shreve, the Science Factory.
May 1, 2019
Stanley (history of science, New York Univ.; What the If? podcast) tells the story of how Albert Einstein's theory of relativity became known and accepted around the world in this engaging text. When Einstein published his general theory of relativity in 1915, it was already one year into the Great War that would cause unimaginable death tolls in Europe. During World War I, from 1914 to 1918, it was illegal for scientists outside of Germany to spread or attempt to prove Einstein's work because he was a German citizen. After the war, though, astronomer Arthur Eddington traveled the world attempting to view a solar eclipse in order to prove the theory of relativity. During these trips, Eddington spoke openly about how Einstein's work would change the way humans understand the universe. After Eddington proved Einstein's theory, scientists finally acknowledged Einstein's contributions and he garnered critical acclaim. Because he has a deep understanding of the history of science, Stanley is able to convey the concepts discussed throughout in meaningful and accessible language. VERDICT Fans of popular science, Einstein, physics, and World War I will find this to be entertaining and informative.--Jason L. Steagall, formerly with Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from April 15, 2019
In Arthur Eddington?known as the Father of Astrophysics?historians discern intense curiosity, armed with mathematical acumen. But Stanley convincingly establishes here that neither Eddington's curiosity nor his mathematics could have forged a new science if Eddington's Quaker precepts had not kept his mind open to the theorizing of a stranger, Albert Einstein, living in a country waging war against his own. Readers will marvel at how Einstein formulates general relativity while nearly starving on wartime rations, yet steadfastly resisting the militarized hatreds sending young German colleagues to the trenches and severing contacts with colleagues in Allied countries. They will marvel, too, at how Eddington surmounts wartime Britain's fierce hostility toward German science as he embraces Einstein's theory?and then evangelizes for it. The depth of Eddington's commitment to Einstein's theory comes through in the riveting account of how this brilliant astronomer, who narrowly avoids Britain's ever-widening net of conscription, sails to Principe in the Gulf of Guinea, where his observation of a full solar eclipse confirms Einstein's prediction about gravity bending light, so rendering Newtonian formulas obsolete. Dissecting the debate over whether philosophical attraction to Einstein's views caused Eddington to skew his Principe data, Stanley affirms both the empirical integrity and the political bravery of this Briton's confirmation of a German's theory. The international human drama in epoch-making science.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
Starred review from March 15, 2019
A thrilling history of the development of the theory of relativity, "one of the essential pillars upholding our understanding of the universe."Despite Einstein's sole billing, this outstanding history/biography gives equal billing to Arthur Eddington (1882-1944), the British astronomer who championed relativity. This year is the 100th anniversary of the year when proof of his theory, largely engineered by Eddington, made Einstein (1879-1955) a scientific superstar. In his first book for a general audience, Stanley (History of Science/New York Univ. Gallatin School of Individualized Study; Huxley's Church and Maxwell's Demon: From Theistic Science to Naturalistic Science, 2014, etc.) chronicles the creation and acceptance of relativity against a background of the nasty nationalism of World War I. The author reminds readers that in 1905, Einstein described special relativity, a brilliant explanation of space, time, and motion. However, it did not explain accelerated motion, which includes gravity. Fixing that required years of labor, but Einstein succeeded in 1915 with general relativity. Einstein was a rare scientist among the warring nations who rejected often hateful patriotism. Eddington was another. Born a Quaker, he was a prodigy who studied at Cambridge and became a distinguished astronomer. As conscientious objectors, British Quakers suffered vicious persecution during the war, and it was only through the efforts of his superiors that he was spared. Eddington learned about relativity through a Dutch astronomer; intrigued, he became its leading British advocate. Few colleagues showed interest in theories of an obscure enemy scientist, but this did not prevent Eddington from initiating plans, even as the war raged, for the famous 1919 eclipse expedition. The author excels in explaining its surprisingly complex details, the tedious work required to tease out the minuscule bending of starlight that obeyed Einstein's prediction, and the still stunning explosion of adulation that resulted when results were announced.Stanley gives history priority over science. His explanation of general relativity will be a stretch for readers unfamiliar with college physics, but he delivers a superb account of Edison's and Eddington's spectacularly successful struggles to work and survive under miserable wartime conditions.
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