Abstract
Internationally, the total solar eclipse of 9 May 1929 was an important event as it offered astronomers yet another opportunity to confirm Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. The path of totality crossed what at the time were the Dutch East Indies, the Unfederated Malay State of Kedah, and Siam, and with totality lasting a generous 5 minutes, or thereabouts, the eclipse was a target for European expeditions.
One of these was a British expedition that split into two teams, and camped on either side of the Kedah-Siam border. This chapter examines the British activities in the far north of what is now Malaysia (the parallel activities of the other British team in nearby Siam being the subject of another chapter in this book).
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Neil Curtis, Head of Museums and Special Collections at the University of Aberdeen for permission to publish Fig. 11.5; to the Kedah Darul Aman State Museum for supplying Fig. 11.12; and to Google maps for providing the base maps that we used in preparing Figs. 11.3, 11.7 and 11.9.
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Noor, N.A.b.M., Orchiston, W. (2021). The Total Solar Eclipse of 9 May 1929: The British Expedition to Alor Star in the Unfederated Malay State of Kedah. In: Orchiston, W., Vahia, M.N. (eds) Exploring the History of Southeast Asian Astronomy. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62777-5_11
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