Abstract
CAMBRIDGE.—On Tuesday, December 2, in the hall of Trinity College, a lecture open to the University was given by Prof. Eddington on the theory of relativity. Apart from the interest of the lecture, which attempted-sometimes lightly and sometimes almost dramatically—to present a popular account of the subject, the most striking thing about it was the enormous attendance. Fifteen minutes before the lecture began there was a queue half-way across the Great Court of men anxious to obtain admittance, and during the lecture the hall was entirely filled with dons and students listening breathlessly to hear an intelligible account, if one could be given, of the new theory. The keen interest was due, no doubt, largely to curiosity stimulated by the newspaper accounts of the subject, but also partly to the feeling, to which at last some hope of satisfaction can be given, that a further great unifying principle is needed in natural philosophy. Whatever be the reason, however, the size and appreciation of the audience were no less extraordinary than the subject of the lecture and the brilliance of its exposition.
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University and Educational Intelligence . Nature 104, 385–386 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/104385a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104385a0