Practical Mystic

“Arthur Eddington, a Cumbrian-born Quaker, peace campaigner, public lecturer and heroic bicyclist, was also one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists. His writings on relativity theory and the evolution of stars decisively affected the growth of physical science in the decades between the two World Wars. He helped make Einstein’s science meaningful and established the basis of a new astrophysics. In this clever and careful book, Matthew Stanley uses Eddington's remarkable scientific and religious career to illuminate and challenge the ways we think about the relation between the aims of physical science and religious belief. This is not a story of the simple-minded conflict of scriptural literalism and scientific ambition. Instead, using a wealth of startling and intelligently interpreted records of the life of this fascinating intellectual and political activist, Stanley indicates how in this telling case the realms of spiritual value and of the quest for scientific understanding could so productively interact. The book will be a vital source for historical interpretations of astronomy and religion and in current debates on the fraught relations between belief and truth.”—Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge

“At a time when many voices loudly proclaim the incompatibility of science and religion, this luminous biography of the Cambridge astrophysicist Arthur Stanley Eddington reminds us that real life rarely conforms to simplistic generalizations. Matthew Stanley demonstrates not only the compatibility of science and religion in the life of this devout Quaker but the existence of a positive symbiosis. Few biographers have shown the interconnections so clearly and convincingly.”—Ronald Numbers, coeditor of When Science and Christianity Meet

“Best known as a pioneer astrophysicist and successful expositor of popular physics and philosophy, Eddington was also deeply immersed in philosophy and convinced that his science was complementary to his religious faith. In Practical Mystic, Matthew Stanley presents a detailed and synthetic study of the great scientist, demonstrating convincingly the coherence of his scientific, intellectual, and religious values. This is a scholarly work of the first class, an innovative and very readable contribution to the history of modern science, philosophy, and religion. Although dealing with the first half of the twentieth century, the relevance of Stanley's rich biography is not limited to the past.”—Helge Kragh, University of Aarhus, Denmark

“Scholarship in the history of modern astrophysics is substantially enhanced with the publication of Matt Stanley’s Practical Mystic: Religion, Science and A. S. Eddington.  Much has been written on Eddington, the principal astrophysical theorist of the first half of the twentieth century, but until now Eddington and his style of doing and communicating science have remained shadowy and distant. Stanley’s eloquent and sophisticated study has created, at last, a three-dimensional portrait of Eddington while at the same time dispelling many of the myths that have lingered about the man and his relationship to, and regard for, his fellow scientists, his life, and his universe.”—David H. DeVorkin, Senior Curator, Astronomy, Department of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution