An examination of the dates of publication of his works in the intervening years suggests this is probably misleading - say a literary device, though I am not sure the chronology of events in the movie are vague. According to the film, it was a letter from Eddington prodding Einstein to use his Theory of Special Relativity to explain the anomalous orbit of Mercury that put Einstein on the road to writing his Theory of General Relativity, published in 1916. This film brings out the curious parallels between the two scientists. However, to say Einstein did not believe in God is mistaken, just not the anthropomorphic, personal God. In Eddington we have a Quaker and true pacifist, and in Einstein we have a not terribly devout Jew who also does not believe in war, and wrote pacifist essays later in life. These principles were put to the test as much as Einstein's theories because of the ongoing war between Britain and Germany.

But both Eddington - who, as director of the Cambridge Observatory was viewed as a protector of Newton's law of gravity - and Einstein believed loyalty to scientific truth transcended national chauvinism. Germany's national pride could be enhanced by having a scientist of their own overthrow Newton, namely Einstein. Specifically, Britain's national pride was closely tied with Newtonian physics. Politics and national pride played central roles, and it is only through individuals resisting social pressure that it does, actually, rise above transient political bias.

What we see in Einstein and Eddington is that it does not. And yet, when we learn about science we assume that it rises above politics and conflicts like war and national pride, as though existing in another world. The Eddington expedition to measure Mercury occurred in 1919, shortly after the war ended. Now, in light of this program, it seems obvious: General Relativity was published in 1916, during the first World War. Yet I never knew about the context in which General Relativity was developed, both historical and personal. And I have read books on the history of science. I was familiar with the famous 1919 astronomical expedition to test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity by measuring the position of Mercury during an eclipse, and even read old newspaper accounts from the archives, including the comments by Alfred North Whitehead. What an extraordinary experience! Both Einstein and Eddington wrote numerous books for the general public, and I read most of them when I was young.

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