Eddington, Arthur Stanley
The Englishman Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882 - 1944), son to the headmaster of a Quaker School, was an astronomer, physicist, and mathematician.
He anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars.
He claimed to have observed the deflection of light by the Sun's gravitational field during a solar eclipse in 1919, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity.
In his last years he tried to unify quantum theory, relativity, and gravitation
He lent his name to the Eddington number NEdd ≈ 1.57·1079, the number of protons in the observable universe.
See also
Last modified:10 January 2026 2.23 p.m.