Background reading

I just spent a fantastic few hours at the Einstein Papers Project on CalTech campus. Einstein bequeathed all his papers to Jerusalem University, but a copy of them all is stored at CalTech, where they are gradually being translated (most are in German) and published. The archive includes correspondence between Einstein and Eddington, discussing the expedition and later works, as well as the fiasco over the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal, which was planned to be awarded to Einstein in 1920, but wasn't. Wow, scientific progress in those days was slow, being conducted by transatlantic airmail... and maybe more thoughtful than astro-ph... The archive also includes letters Eddington wrote to his mother during his (long) journey to Principe and from the island. More on those to follow.

Web page goes live!

This first report is posted in a jubilant mood, coincidentally from an international conference on gravitational lensing near Frankfurt. Many of Europe's lensers are gathered to review and coordinate plans for a year's research. And this anniversary year should be very exciting: with the opening of two brand new telescopes designed specifically to measure gravitational lensing, and the planning of a satellite to do even better from orbit. Lensing has come a long way in the 90 years since its first observation. Eddington would have been pleasantly surprised!