E3GLOBAL proposes to write the first global history of the 1919 total solar eclipse. It does so by focusing on the travels of the two British astronomical teams, which proved Einstein right. It scrutinises in detail preliminary contacts, negotiations and interactions with national astronomical communities in Brazil and Portugal, and local communities of elite people and common citizens before, during and right after the observations of 29 May 1919. It also analyses instances of appropriation by various scientific communities in different local/ national contexts, with a special emphasis on Brazil and Portugal, in the decade following the observations and their announcement.

The total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 was observed by three teams — one British, one Brazilian and one American — in Sobral, the second city of the north-eastern state of Ceará, Brazil, and by one British team in Príncipe, a small African island, then part of the Portuguese empire, now part of the Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe. In the preparation of the expeditions and on their travels’ routes, all contacts and stops by British teams involved Portuguese or Brazilian people and localities, in all of which Portuguese was the official language.

E3GLOBAL shifts the focus from Einstein and the effects of British travels to the travels per se, analysing them jointly in a comparative and interrelated (connected) way, with as much detail as possible, while giving prominence to a myriad of participants, professionals and lay people, known and unknown, in the convoluted process that led to the observation of totality, both in Sobral as well as in Príncipe.

This joint exercise will evidence close relationships between astronomy, politics, diplomacy, religion and colonial empires, but also between scientists, communities and institutions, some more powerful and more visible than others, but all determinant for the construction of knowledge. A very asymmetrical set of sources for Sobral and Príncipe calls for a historical analysis that highlights deep asymmetries in terms of the participants’ agenda, their agency and their ability to affirm their agency, presences/ absences, travels’ impact and role of selective appropriations.

E3GLOBAL comprises the following main research tasks: The various faces of total solar eclipses; Observations and their aftermath, and Newspapers coverage worldwide. Besides scientific outputs, it explores various outreach formats to convey the main research results to different audiences.

E3GLOBAL is funded by FCT under project PTDC/FER-HFC/3491/2021 and runs from Jan 2022 to June 2025

It build on some of the research outputs of the VISLIS project, also funded by FCT and the 1919 centenary celebrations that took place in 2019.