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After the Jesuit Fathers of the efforts by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee to send an expedition party to Minsk were refused entry into the Russian Empire, the expedition was divided into two and an expedition party instead went north to Sweden to observe the total solar eclipse of 21 August, 1914.
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The Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee in England sent two parties across the world to measure the deflection of stellar rays by the Sun's gravitational field. Their expeditions are perhaps the most famous eclipse expeditions of all time and their impact on modern physics profound.
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A team from the Lick Observatory in California, alongside their original plan for the eclipse, were prepared to perform the experiment to measure the deflection of stellar rays in order to verify Einstein's theories on the deflection of light. Due to cloud and war, the expedition did not go to plan.
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Description:
An expedition team sent by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee traveled to the Russian Empire, but their agenda for the eclipse was clouded out. They were also forced to leave their equipment in the Empire due to the start of the First World War, to be forwarded back to England following its conclusion.
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The Argentine National Observatory sent an expedition in their second attempt to measure the deflection of stellar rays by the Sun. They were meant to be joined by a expedition from the Berlin Observatory led by Freundlich, however due to the outbreak of war, the German party were arrested. Unfortunately, (for all eclipse parties in the Russian Empire), their views were again obscured by cloud. The Argentine party would later plan to perform the experiment in 1919, but the National Government refused to authorise the mission, so it didn't go ahead.
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Description:
Separate expeditions from the Argentine National Observatory and the National Astronomical Observatory in Chile sent separate expeditions to Cristina to make observations at the total solar eclipse of 10 October, 1912. Their agendas for the eclipse were different, with the Argentinean expedition planning to attempt to measure the deflection of stellar rays by the Sun. Rain on the day prevented most observations from occurring.
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Description:
Observers from the Greenwich Observatory in England, the Bureau des Longitudes in France and Brazilian National Observatory congregated at a site in Pasa Quatro to independently make observations at the total solar eclipse in 1912. Although on the day, heavy rain ruined any chances of observations, the expeditions attracted heavy media attention and important political figures traveled to the site.
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Description:
The Principe party of the expedition organised by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee in England to measure the deflection of stellar rays by the Sun's gravitational field. Whilst misfortune negatively affected their observations, this expedition would still be perhaps the most famous expedition in history due to the international fame it brought to Albert Einstein and his Theory of General Relativity.
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An expedition organised by the Carnegie Institution of Washington also sent an expedition to Cape Palmas, Liberia, with the primary goal to investigate the magnetic effects of the Sun. They found that the eclipse had a clear influence on Earth’s magnetic field.
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The Lick Observatory of California, Perth Observatory, University of Toronto and Kodiakanal Solar Observatory all sent expeditions to remote Wallal after the Commonwealth Government offered to provide transport to and from the location. The local Nyangumarta people assisted the teams greatly and were interested in their expedition. The Lick team gathered strong evidence in favour of Albert Einstein's now accepted Theory of General Relativity.
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The Observatory in Adelaide, South Australia sent a party to the Cordillo Downs, to make observations at the total solar eclipse in Australia in 1922. Transporting their supplies and equipment took over a month to do due to its extremely remote location.
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The Sydney Observatory sent a team to Goondiwindi, in Queensland, east Australia, in an expedition organised and financed by Sir Wilfrid Russell Grimwade.
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An expedition from the Greenwich Observatory and a joint Dutch-German expedition traveled to Christmas island to make observations of the total solar eclipse in May 1922. Both teams sought confirmatory evidence for Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity which the Greenwich team had found in 1919, although with large error intervals. Tragically, both teams were clouded out, but the north of the island had clear views of the eclipse.
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Julius Berkowski, a renowned photographer, is credited for capturing the first successful photographic image of the solar corona (with the correct exposure) during this solar eclipse using a technique called "the daguerreotype process". He was requested to do so by Dr Busch, the then Director of the Royal Prussian Observatory, who had also made observations of the eclipse.
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British astronomer and chemist Warren de la Rue designed the first photoheliograph - an instrument that consisted of features from a telescope and camera. He then transported this along with a mobile photo studio and dark room from Plymouth to Rivabellosa to observe the solar prominences. There he managed to capture photographs of the rosy prominences using a "wet-collodion" process.
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French astrophysicist Jules Janssen used spectroscopy to analyse the light spectra data from the solar prominences during totality. He observed the expected Fraunhofer lines due to presence of hydrogen and sodium in the Sun. However, he also noticed another emission line that did not align with any other known Fraunhofer lines. Months later, British scientist Norman Lockyer confirmed this observation and announced that this is due to an unknown element which we now call Helium.
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With Siam surrounded by British territories in the West and French territories in the East, King Rama IV strategically invited Sir Harry Ord, a British military diplomat to his expedition in Siam and also independently granted a French expedition team to conduct observations in Wha-koa. This was to gain the trust of both parties and ensure that neither Britain nor France would attempt to capture Siam for their respective empires.
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Maria Mitchell, professor at Vassar College, along with five of her students observed the total solar eclipse from Denver, Colorado. Her expedition promoted the discussion of women's involvement and science and the political issues surrounding this.
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The Royal Astronomical Society intended to organise and two eclipse expeditions, spread across from French Guyana to the then Portuguese colony of Angola on this date to observe changes in the solar corona. However, Brown organised a third unofficial expedition to Trinidad with her relative Martha Louisa Jeffreys.
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The renowned Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev ascended in a hot balloon in a field near Klin to observe this eclipse. Despite that Mendeleev had never manoeuvred an air ballon before, the rainy weather forced him to fly alone. The balloon eventually failed to elevate above the clouds, so this observation was not considered successful scientifically, however, Mendeleev was awarded a medal from the French Academy of Meteorological Aerostation for this courageous flight.
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The Chinese Zijin Mountain Observatory sent an expedition to Lintao to observe this eclipse. The expedition team traveled 3200 kilometres and 43 days to reach the observation point. Over the expedition, they often found themselves in the shadow of Japanese bombers. It was thanks to the joint tremendous patriotic support from the government, military and other relevant parties that the team could finally accomplish the first modern total solar eclipse observation in China. It was commented that the spirits such as patriotism and perseverance demonstrated in this expedition not just by the expedition team but by some integrated joint force in China rendered this expedition with meanings beyond the scope of astronomy.
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