General Relativity in Australian Newspapers: The 1919 and 1922 Solar Eclipse Expeditions

Abstract

In 1922 there was a total solar eclipse with the central track traversing the Australian continent from Western Australia, through South Australia and across Queensland. Local and overseas astronomers mounted major observing campaigns to verify the amount of gravitational light bending predicted by the Theory of General Relativity. This paper looks at how the media reported the results from previous expeditions in 1919,whichwere conducted by the British, and the necessity for the 1922 measurements in Australia. It was this latter local eclipse that was the impetus for Australian correspondents to report on General Relativity. In general, the Australian newspapers chronicled informatively and accurately, they provided a good coverage of the eclipse parties and stressed the significance of the 1922 investigations. Additional keywords: 1919 eclipse, 1922 eclipse, Australian newspapers, Australian public, General Relativity, gravitational deflection, gravitational redshift, Mercury anomaly.