Today in the history of astronomy, Eddington’s eclipse expedition proves Einstein’s theory of general relativity. | Published: May 29, 2026 Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson's report on their 1919 eclipse expedition (from which this image is taken) was released in November 1919, confirming Einstein's general theory of relativity. Credit: Frank Watson Dyson/Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons One of the most important eclipses in history happened in 1919. This particular eclipse cut a path across South America and the Atlantic Ocean, and landed on the west coast of Africa. Waiting on the island of Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of Africa, was a team of astronomers armed with telescopes and cameras and led by English physicist Sir Arthur Eddington.  Amid World War I, Albert Einstein had published his groundbreaking paper on general relativity. One prediction made by the theory was the bending of light in a strong gravitational field, called gravitational lensing.…