1919 Solar Eclipse

 
          i love astronomy but solar eclipses are not a very exciting phenomena. so what if the moon blocks the sun? it is just due to our unique position in space and nothing else. the whole thing is very earth-centered and there is so much more interesting stuff going on. but this particular eclipse is very important. it served as one of the first means to support Einstein's general theory of relativity.
          einstein predicted in his equations that the curvature of spacetime around the sun, due to its large mass, would deflect the pathways of the distant stars behind it. this eclipse allowed for the observation of such effects. a star that is really behind the sun (from our unique viewpoint) would appear to be slightly to the side of it, due to the deflection of its light. and this is exactly what was observed this day in may of 1919. its measured deflection was within a suitable range from einstein's prediction.
          the significance of this event is enormous. although there is more than one experiment needed to adequately support a scientific theory, this helped lead to a revolution in physics. newton's theory of gravitation could be thrown out and a brand new exciting era of physics was born! (we use newton's theory in school, however, as it works well enough on a smaller scale and the mathematics behind it is much less complicated than einstein's equations) einstein's theories have only gained more support throughout the years. there is so much more cool stuff that he has predicted. one such thing was his cosmological constant that he was ashamed of and saw as a failure, but has now helped to explain the theory of dark energy over 70 years later!