The moon cast a long shadow over Antarctica on November 23, 2003, in a total solar eclipse.

As far back as May 585 BC, eclipses were affecting history. A sudden total solar eclipse during a battle between the Medes and the Lydians frightened both sides to such a degree that they immediately put down their weapons and declared peace.

During his fourth voyage to the Americas, Columbus and his crew were stranded on the island of Jamaica. After six months, there was still no help from the Spanish colony in Haiti, all their meager provisions had gone and he and his men were in a dire predicament. Then he had the audacious idea of intimidating the natives into providing him with provisions. He did this by feigning mastery of the heavens and successfully predicting the lunar eclipse of 29 February 1504. To do this, he used the ephemeris, or astronomical tables, of German astronomer Regiomontanus, correctly transposing them for the time zone of Jamaica.

A more modern instance was the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. This was perhaps the most important eclipse in the history of science because it demonstrated that a new theory of the universe was accurate. Albert Einstein’s innovative theory of relativity was a breakthrough in cosmological thinking. However, it was untested and many had doubts about it. Unassailable proof was needed before the theory would be accepted by the masses. Einstein predicted that a star’s light would be bent by an immense gravitational mass – the Sun for example - if his theory was right. Unfortunately, the Sun is so intensely bright that no star can be seen when the Sun is above the horizon, let alone very near its disk. Fortunately, there was an eclipse soon after the World War I ended. British scientist Arthur Eddington was placed in charge of investigations and expeditions were sent to South America and to an island off the coast of West Africa. They managed to photograph stars very near the Sun’s disk once it was eclipsed. Back in their laboratories, the positions of the stars were measured, and were found to be precisely where Einstein’s theory predicted they would be. This proved the Theory of Relativity and the world saw the universe in a completely new way.