Eddington’s margin of error

[Jedothek]

TL;DR

Could Eddington distinguish Newton from Einstein?

Looking for a discussion of the 1919 observations I tend to find 1. Statements that Ed & Co. were right to thro out certain data and 2. Assurances that in any case relativity has been confirmed subsequently. But what I want to know is: was the experimental margin of error so large as to prevent discrimination between Newton and Einstein?

 

[willyengland]

Here is the relevant article:
https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/62/3/37/395000/Testing-relativity-from-the-1919-eclipse-a

The plates were re-measured in 1979 using modern methods and proved Eddington/Einstein right.

 

[Dale]

Unfortunately, in Eddington's day it was not common to report experimental errors. So you may need to look at more modern experiments, after the practice became common among the scientific community.

https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.3992

 

[PeroK]

But what I want to know is: was the experimental margin of error so large as to prevent discrimination between Newton and Einstein?

Probably. But, it gave the newspapers a great headline!

 

[PeterDonis]

Probably. But, it gave the newspapers a great headline!

And I think it's fair to say that Eddington's prestige precluded any real review of the results at the time. They were just accepted.