Some Images from the 1914 Solar Eclipse

I celebration of today’s solar eclipse (which only reached about 80 % here in Sweden) Jonas Häggblom, conservator at the Center for History of Science, has reproduced some material from a 1914 solar eclipse expedition to Sollefteå in the north of Sweden. The expedition was arranged by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and led by physicist Bernhard Hasselberg (1848-1922).

Some documents relating to the eclipse. In the letter in the middle astronomer Hugo von Zeipel (1873-1959) has calculated the beginning and the end of the totality. The notebook to the left is from the actual event, and shows time stamps during the eclipse. Image: Jonas Häggblom/Center for the History of Science, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Overview of the Sollefteå site. The image of the sun was reflected by mirrors at the wall to the right, through the white tunnel, and into the camera mounted in the shed to the left. Hasselberg is the man with an umbrella in the center of the image. Image: Jonas Häggblom/Center for the History of Science, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The front end of the camera (right hand side pf the construction in the image above). The image of the sun was reflected by the coelostat to the left, onto the secondary mirror to the right, and into the camera objective in the middle. Image: Jonas Häggblom/Center for the History of Science, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Some photos of the totality taken from various sites in Sweden. Image: Jonas Häggblom/Center for the History of Science, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Original documents, images etcetera can be found at the Center for the History of Science at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm. In addition the eclipse event was also captured on film, and a six minute film clip, showing among other things Hasselberg in Sollefteå, is preserved at the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute. Additional images from the Swedish eclipse expeditions can be found at Uppsala University Library.

Solförmörkelsejubileum

Idag är det hundra år sedan solförmörkelsen den 21 augusti 1914. Föranlett av detta har Jörgen Wiman vid Filmarkivet restaurerat och lagt ut en filmsekvens från tilldragelsen. Upptakten filmades utanför Sollefteå vid Kungl. Vetenskapsakademiens observationsstation. Fysikern Bernhard Hasselberg ledde tillsammans med Nils Nordenmark arrangemanget. Det avslutande avsnittet är däremot filmat i Stockholm.

I sin kommentar till filmen skriver Wiman bland annat så här: ”Så när dagen kom då filmen var klar och vi skulle se den på riktigt slutade det med ett jätteskratt. Visserligen är 1914 ett solförmörkelseår men solförmörkelsen på den här filmen är en fejk i alla fall.” Vad han menar med det överlåter jag åt läsarna att upptäcka.

Filmen finns att titta på här. Mycket nöje.