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在第一次世界大戰期間，德國的科研發展鮮為國外人知曉，英國天體物理學家亞瑟．愛丁頓爵士是首個讓英語世界得悉愛因斯坦相對論的人，他更被愛因斯坦譽為在所有語言中最佳的相對論演繹者。1919年，愛丁頓到西非觀測日全蝕並證實了廣義相對論提到太陽的重力會屈曲光線的說法。愛丁頓的成果，立即被全世界媒體報道，相對論亦成為物理學的主流。附圖就是愛丁頓拍攝日全蝕時恆星位置的照片。如非日全蝕，太陽附近的恆星是無法觀測到的。在考察發報會上，波蘭物理學家希柏絲坦問愛丁頓：「全世界只有3個人理解相對論，你大概就是其中1個罷？」這「3個人」當然包括希柏絲坦本人在內，愛丁頓卻打趣地回答：「我也想知道第3個人是誰。」
Only three people understand Relativity
During World War I, developments in German science were unknown in England. It was Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington who introduced Relativity to the English-speaking world.
In 1919 Eddington conducted a solar eclipse expedition and provided one of the earliest confirmations of Relativity. According to the theory, stars near the Sun would appear slightly displaced because their light was bent by the sun's gravitational field. When Eddington announced his findings to the Royal Astronomical Society, Polish physicist, Ludwig Silberstein, approached Eddington and said, “You must be one of three persons in the world who understands general Relativity.” Whereupon Eddington replied, “On the contrary, I'm trying to think who the third person is.” ■甄枝強 香港天文愛好者
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