The Eclipse of 1919

How Einstein's Theory of General Relativity

Changed our World

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Christy Ottaviano Books

(LBYR)

pub. 6.29.2025

40 pages

Ages 5 - 9

Author and illustrator:

Emily Arnold McCully

Character: Albert Einstein

Overview:

From his earliest days as a child, Albert Einstein was fascinated with the relationship between light and gravity. He couldn’t stop thinking about the laws of the universe, and was determined to describe how motion and time, and energy and mass, all worked together.

Einstein imagined gravity as what happens when objects bend the space and time around them. But this theory couldn’t be perceived in the everyday world. To test his hypothesis, Einstein needed to see if the sun’s gravity bent the light from a nearby star. And the only way to do that was to photograph a total solar eclipse. 

This is the story of how scientist Arthur Eddington validated Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, permanently altering the world’s understanding of the universe and beyond. It’s a testament to the relationship between nature, science, and the pursuit of knowledge.."

Tantalizing taste:

"Whenever he had a moment. Albert wrestled with ideas like racing the beam of light. He and his friends argued over them while hiking in the mountains. He liked to conduct thought experiments in a sailboat on the lake.

Gradually, Albert figured out a radical new way to describe the universe, beginning with how motion and time, energy and mass, all work together. He believed they behaved in relation to one another. The key to the universe was relativity."

And something more: Emily Arnold McCully in the Author's Note explains: "The theory of relativity predicted gravitational waves and black holes,. Einstein's ideas led to such life-changing fixtures as televisions and GPS. They also contributed, to his great regret, to the development of the atomic bomb."