Scientists plan to replicate Eddington's 1919 eclipse test during today's total solar eclipse

As a total solar eclipse moves over Iceland and other European regions, a University of Iceland Ph.D. student, Matthias Harksen, plans to recreate the famed 1919 Eddington experiment. Arthur Eddington had set up telescopic cameras on the island of Príncipe and in Sobral, Brazil, to photograph stars whose light would be deflected by the Sun’s gravity, a key test of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The observations matched Einstein’s calculations and were prominently featured in a 1919 one outlet's article by Henry Norris Russell.

Harksen’s modern attempt, using a telescope, aims to demonstrate that the experiment is accessible to anyone and to spark broader interest in Einstein’s work. The eclipse provides the rare conditions needed to see starlight near the Sun without glare. Readers are directed to an eclipse guide for further details on the path of totality.