From Newton to Einstein: Changing Conceptions of the Universe

In speaking of Newton we are tempted to paraphrase a line from the Scriptures: Before Newton the Solar System was without form, and void; then Newton came and there was light. To have discovered a law not only applicable to matter on this earth, but to the planets and sun and stars beyond, is a triumph which places Newton among the super-men.
What Newton’s law of gravitation must have meant to the people of his day can be pictured only if we conceive what the effect upon us would be if someone—say Marconi—were actually to succeed in getting into touch with beings on another planet. Newton’s law increased confidence in the universality of earthly laws; and it strengthened belief in the cosmos as a law-abiding mechanism.
Newton’s Law. The attraction between any two bodies is proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates them. This is the concentrated form of Newton’s law. If we apply this law to two such bodies as the sun and the earth, we can state that the sun attracts the earth, and the earth, the sun. Furthermore, this attractive power will depend upon the distance between these two bodies. Newton showed that if the distance between the sun and the earth were doubled the attractive power would be reduced not to one-half, but to one-fourth; if trebled, the attractive power would be reduced to one-ninth. If, on the other hand, the distance were halved, the attractive power would be not merely twice, but four times as great. And what is true of the sun and the earth is true of every body in the firmament, and, as Professor Rutherford has recently shown, even of the bodies which make up the solar system of the almost infinitesimal atom.
This mysterious attractive power that one body possesses for another is called “gravitation,” and the law which regulates the motion of bodies when under the spell of gravitation is the law of gravitation. This law we owe to Newton’s genius.
Newton’s Predecessors. We can best appreciate Newton’s momentous contribution to astronomy by casting a rapid glance over the state of the science prior to the seventeenth century—that is, prior to Newton’s day. Ptolemy’s conception of the earth as the center of the universe held undisputed sway throughout the middle ages. In those days Ptolemy was in astronomy what Aristotle was in all other knowledge: they were the gods who could not but be right. Did not Aristotle say that earth, air, fire and water constituted the four elements? Did not Ptolemy say that the earth was the center around which the sun revolved? Why, then, question further? Questioning was a sacrilege.
What has this Albert Einstein done to merit such extraordinary praise? With the world in turmoil, with classes and races in a death struggle, with millions suffering and starving, why do we find time to turn our attention to this Jew? His ideas have no bearing on Europe’s calamity. They will not add one bushel of wheat to starving populations.
The answer is not hard to find. Men come and men go, but the mystery of the universe remains. It is Einstein’s glory to have given us a deeper insight into the universe. Our scientists are Huxley’s agnostics: they do not deny activities beyond our planet; they merely center their attention on the knowable on this earth. Our philosophers, on the other hand, go far afield. Some of them soar so high that, like one poet’s opinion of Shelley, the bubble bursts. Einstein, using the tools of the scientist—the experimentalist—builded a skyscraper which ultimately reached the philosophical school. His rôle is the rôle of alcohol in causing water and ether (the anæsthetic) to mix. Ether and water will mix no better than oil and water, without the presence of alcohol; in its presence a uniform mixture is obtained.
The Object of the Eclipse Expedition. Einstein prophesied that a ray of light passing near the sun would be pulled out of its course, due to the action of gravity. He went even further. He predicted how much out of its course the ray would be deflected. This prediction was based on a theory of gravitation which Einstein had developed in great mathematical detail. The object of the British Eclipse Expedition was either to prove or disprove Einstein’s assumption.