Toby Dittrich

Modern Eddington Experiment (MEE) – Searching for Stellar Images in the Forbidden Zone

Abstract

Sir Arthur Eddington made Einstein a world celebrity in 1919 with his first eversuccessful experiment measuring the gravitational deflection of light passing the sun during an eclipse. Using very large and cumbersome telescopes and cameras with large glass plates, he collected 7 stellar images on two photographs. Since then, there have been about 12 experiments attempted, with only a few moderate successes.The first notable recreation was in 1922, when a team from the Lick Observatory collected several dozen stars which produced a result that greatly reduced the doubts in the 1919 conclusion that Einstein's curved space theory was correct. These early experiments proceeded until 1973, using the typical large telescopes and crude photographic methods of the time. After a period of 44 years, the Modern Eddington Experiment was performed by three successful teams during the 2017 total eclipse in North America. An amateur astronomer from San Diego, Don Bruns, performed the most accurate experiment to date, and a team organized by W. A. Dittrich from Portland Community College (Oregon) was moderately successful. Professor Dittrich's four students became the first students in history to measure the curvature of space. This success led to the formation of 13 teams for the MEE2024 which was performed in both Texas and central Mexico. The MEE2024 obtained almost 300 stellar images with over400 GB of data. However, throughout all of these experiments over the last 100+ years, Einstein’s Deflection Law has not been adequately verified. This is because only two stellar images have been obtained in the inner corona, a region (R = 1 - 2 solar radii)t hat could be called the Forbidden Zone because the corona is so bright. This talk details the reason why data obtained in this region is critical to the verification of Einstein's Law of Gravitational Deflection of Light, and why the coming three eclipses in 2026, 2027 and 2028 offer the best chance for accomplishing this difficult scientific measurement during any of the 50 future total eclipses in the remaining years of the 21st Century. If during the performances of MEE2026 -2028, the Forbidden Zone is not penetrated, Einstein’s famous deflection law may not be adequately verified for 200 years from his first announcement of his theory. 

BIO

Toby Dittrich studied Physics as an undergraduate at Western Washington University where he became the first Undergraduate Teaching Assistance in the college's history in 1965.  After graduating with a BS degree in 1968, he entered the PhD physics program at the University of Colorado Boulder. After the first graduate year of studies, he obtained a leave of absence for civilian military duty as an Acoustic Physicist at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard analyzing radiated noise from submarines. Upon return to Boulder, he became a Candidate for the PhD but terminated his studies with a MS degree in Physics in 1973. At that time, he received a Fulbright Scholarship in Physics to Bristol University in England pursuing his studies of waves on glaciers during his summers of research with the Juneau Icefield Research Program. This research continued for over 40 years teaching and training students in field techniques in glaciology. In 1982, Professor Dittrich returned to graduate studies at the University of Washington in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. This began a long-term interest and research in the production of power in outer space, a topic which is only now becoming very important for exploration and development of space. He obtained an MS in Aero engineering in1983. After 10 years of teaching physics as an Adjunct Professor in many colleges in the Northwest (USA), he obtained a tenured position as Physics Professor at Portland Community College (Oregon) which lasted for 35 years until his retirement in June 2024. Other interests during this long period of education occurred and led to no academic accomplishments. His long interest in playing basketball resulted in his invention of the collapsible basketball rim for which he received two patents in the 1980's. This invention changed the nature of basketball around the world, and the prototype is preserved in the Basketball Hall of Fame and his papers are stored in the Smithsonian. His inventions continued as he received 5 more patents in 1995-2005 on educational software associated with the use of voice recognition in computer presentations and educational testing. His interests in flying planes started in 1980 and after owning planes and flying since then he has earned a Commercial Pilot Certificate and Flight Instructor Certificates for Single Engine, Multi Engine,and Instrument Flight. He enjoys working on his collection of antique cars and flies his Cherokee188 single engine plane often. He lives in Vancouver Washington with his wife Bridget, an accomplished pianist and abstract artist, and with his dog and two cats.