Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1951
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1951natur.168.1007w&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 168, Issue 4284, pp. 1007-1008 (1951).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
I AM very grateful to Prof. F. J. M. Stratton for his appreciative review of my book, ``Ninth Astronomer Royal''1, but I do not understand his saying that I have ascribed Einstein's special theory of relativity to Newton. Unless there is some error that has escaped my notice, this must refer to the statements on page 192: ``According to the new Theory of Relativity the rays of light from these stars would be bent in passing the huge mass of the sun. This deflection would be twice as great as anything that could be accounted for by the old Newtonian theory. ... Would it be the 1.74 seconds of arc indicated by Einstein's theory, or the 0.87 seconds of arc indicated by Newton's, or none at all ?'' Does this attribute the special theory of relativity to Newton ? If so, I err in good company, that of Sir Arthur Eddington, who writes in ``Space, Time and Gravitation'': ``It must be understood that there were two questions to answer: first, whether light has weight (as suggested by Newton), or is indifferent to gravitation; secondly, if it has weight, is the amount of the deflection in accordance with Einstein's or Newton's laws ?'' (page 110). Further, ``It will be remembered that Einstein's theory predicts a deflection of 1''.74. ... The simple Newtonian deflection is half this, 0''.87'' (page 118).
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