The RAS Public Lecture: From Kendal to Príncipe - Eddington & Einstein

Born in Kendal, Arthur Stanley Eddington introduced the English-speaking world to Einstein's theories and in 1919 travelled to Príncipe to undertake important astronomical measurements to verify one of Einstein's predictions. In this talk, Professor Bell Burnell will discuss how an expedition to observe a total eclipse of the Sun from a small island off the west coast of Africa came to be regarded as a highlight of 20th-century science.

This public lecture is presented as part of the Royal Astronomical Society’s annual National Astronomy Meeting, hosted this year by Lancaster University. As well as 2019 marking the 100th anniversary of Eddington’s historic Príncipe expedition, 2nd July 2019 will witness another total eclipse, this time visible from parts of South America, with totality occurring at 20:24 BST. Following Professor Bell Burnell’s lecture, audience members are invited to take refreshments and enjoy live-streamed video of the eclipse.

Professor Dame Jocelyn Burnell

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell inadvertently discovered pulsars as a graduate student in radio astronomy in Cambridge, opening up a new branch of astrophysics - work recognised by the award of a Nobel Prize to her supervisor.

She has subsequently worked in many roles in many branches of astronomy, working part-time while raising a family. She is now a Visiting Professor in Oxford, the Chancellor of the University of Dundee, Scotland, and was (the first female) President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh – Scotland.

She has received many honours, including a Breakthrough Prize in 2018. Professor Bell Burnell is also an honorary graduate of Lancaster University.

Much in demand as a speaker and broadcaster, in her spare time she gardens, listens to choral music and is active in the Quakers. She has co-edited an anthology of poetry with an astronomical theme – ‘Dark Matter; Poems of Space’.

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