(upbeat music) Hi.

I'm Courtney Cochran, and I'd like to read a book to you.

This book is titled Eclipse: How the 1919 Solar Eclipse Proved Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

Written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by Peter Willis.

It's a scientific fact.

During a rainstorm you can't see the sun, the moon, or the stars or a solar eclipse.

A solar eclipse is when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun.

British astronomer or star scientist Stanley Eddington needed to see the May 29, 1919, solar eclipse.

He planned to photograph distant stars during the eclipse and change science forever.

His plans to photograph the 1919 solar eclipse started four years earlier.

German scientist Albert Einstein was studying how forces push and pull objects in space.

On November 25, 1915, Einstein explained to other scientists his new theory of general relativity.

Gravity is a force that pulls an object toward another object.

At the time, scientists thought that light traveled in a straight line, but Einstein said something startling.

He said that the sun's huge gravity pulled and bent light.

To prove his new theory, he needed observations from an astronomer like Stanley Eddington.

Stanley and other astronomers decided to try to measure light bending around the sun's gravity by photographing a solar eclipse.

The 1919 eclipse would be a perfect time to measure light bending.

Before leaving England, the scientists photographed the Hyades star cluster for the non eclipse photos.

Starting in March 1919, Stanley took a 47 day boat trip from England to the tiny island of Príncipe, just off the coast of Africa.

On Príncipe, he would have the best view of the eclipse.

Traveling with Stanley was Edwin Cottingham, a clockwork expert.

Edwin was in charge of the complicated moving parts of the telescope.

They also sent an expedition to Brazil to photograph the eclipse from there.

On the morning of May 29th, clouds massed in the gloomy sky and a tremendous rainstorm came on.

Would it clear in time for the afternoon eclipse?

About noon, the rain stopped.

The skies started to slowly clear.

Stanley and Edwin hopefully set up the telescope.

They waited until about 1:30 p.m. when the clouds finally cleared.

The eclipse had already started.

The sun was a glimmering crescent.

As the sky darkened from the moon's passage, the stars came out.

When totality, or total darkness, started, they called out, "Go!"

There wasn't a moment to waste.

They only had 302 seconds.

They started a metronome, a simple machine that clicks off the seconds.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Edwin watched the telescope to make sure all the equipment worked correctly.

Stanley pulled out the cardboard and exposed to the photographic glass plate for 5 seconds.

Tick, tick, tick.

Tick, tick.

Quickly, he switched to a new plate.

He exposed the new plate for 10 seconds.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

Tick.

Tick, tick, tick.

Time rushed by.

Stanley worked for the full 302 seconds, taking 16 photos.

Later, Stanley developed the photos on the glass plates.

On the last six photos, stars glittered behind the eclipse.

He packed the photos carefully for the trip back to England.

There he spent hours measuring the Brazil and Príncipe photos, comparing and calculating.

Finally, on November 6, 1919, Stanley and other astronomers announced the results of their eclipse observations.

Light bent around the sun.

The photos said that Einstein's general theory of relativity was correct.

Science has never been the same.

For years after and still today, scientists would argue about Einstein's theory.

But Stanley knew one thing.

Starlight bends around the sun.

He had measured it.

It's a scientific fact.

(upbeat music)