The 3E exhibit is centred on 3 total solar eclipses, the first took place in 1914, the second in 1919 and the third in 2013.
The 1914 total solar eclipse, whose totality strip crossed Europe between Norway and Ukraine, mobilized the international astronomic community. From the University of Coimbra, Francisco Costa Lobo, prepared a Portuguese expedition that travelled with the intention of observing the eclipse in Crimea. The delegation was in Berlin on the 1st of August 1914, the day in which Germany declared war on Russia and was forced to forgo the project and return to Portugal. On the 21st of August, Costa Lobo ended up by only observing a partial eclipse in Coimbra.
The solar eclipse of the 29th of May 1919, total in the island of Príncipe (west coast of Africa) and in Sobral (Brazil), was observed and photographed by a group of astronomers led by Arthur Eddington in a joint expedition by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society. The observations of this eclipse are a relevant cornerstone for the vision of the universe we have today, since it finally allowed, for the first time, to experimentally confirm Eintein’s Theory of General Relativity.
In 2013, on the 3rd of November, a new total solar eclipse was visible on the island of Príncipe, in a trajectory similar to the 1919 eclipse. It was a unique opportunity for Príncipe to recover the scientific event of 1919 and connect it to modern science. The ECLIPSE 2013: History and Science in Príncipe project relied on two main objectives: on one hand, to promote and diffuse Science, on the other, to reassert the scientific legacy of the island of Príncipe in the History of sciences.
It was on display to the public at the University of Coimbra’s Science Museum, between the 16th of May and the 22nd of September 2019.
Team: Equipa: Carlota Simões, Luís Gonçalves, Orlando Oliveira, Pedro Cunha e Teresa Girão.
Complementary information about the exhibit on University of Coimbra’s Science Museum webpage.
Pictures from the exhibition here.
3E – Associated events
Taking place between May and September @ Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra, @ Centro de Ciência Viva Rómulo de Carvalho organised by Secção de Astronomia, Astrofísica e Astronáutica da Associação Académica de Coimbra (SAC) and @ Observatório Geofísico e Astronómico da Universidade de Coimbra, organised by the same institution.
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