The Earliest Record of a Solar Eclipse :

The earliest record of a solar eclipse comes from ancient China. The date of this eclipse, usually given as October 22, 2134 B.C., is not certain. Historians know the account was written sometime within a period of about two hundred years. During that time there were several total eclipses visible in China. The 2134 B.C. eclipse is simply the best guess. The ancient Chinese document Shu Ching records that "the Sun and Moon did not meet harmoniously." The story goes that the two royal astronomers, Hsi and Ho, had neglected their duties and failed to predict the event. Widespread Oriental belief held that an eclipse was caused by an invisible dragon devouring the Sun. Great noise and commotion (drummers drumming, archers shooting arrows into the sky, and the like) were customarily produced to frighten away the dragon and restore daylight.

The date of an eclipse referred to in the Bible is known for certain: "`And on that day,' says the Lord God, `I will make the Sun go down at noon, and darken the Earth in broad daylight'." (Amos 8:9) "That day" was June 15, 763 B.C. The date of this eclipse is confirmed by an Assyrian historical record known as the Eponym Canon. In Assyria, each year was named after a different ruling official and the year's events were recorded under that name in the Canon. Under the year corresponding to 763 B. C., a scribe at Nineveh recorded this eclipse and emphasized the importance of the event by drawing a line across the tablet. These ancient records have allowed historians to use eclipse data to improve the chronology of early Biblical times.

Many ancient civilizations believed the occurrence of an eclipse was a demon eating the sun. They thought that the best way to get rid of the “demon” that was consuming their sun was to unite and make as much noise as possible to scare it away. At the first sight of an eclipse, everyone would immediately gather to bang drums and shout or scream as loudly as possible. The ancient Greeks believed that an eclipse was a sign of angry gods, therefore it was thought of as a bad omen.

Solar eclipses have even altered the course of human history. In 585 BCE the Lydians and Medes were engaged in battle in what is present-day Turkey. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that at the height of a particularly fierce battle, darkness fell upon the land. Apparently the two armies waged a war close to the path of a solar eclipse. The armies took this as a sign and stopped fighting instantly, making peace with each other.

The ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus tried to understand eclipses by using them to make scientific observations. Around 130 BCE, from observations of a solar eclipse seen from Hellespont and Alexandria, Hipparchus determined that the moon was about 429,000 kilometers (268,000 miles) away – only about 11 percent more than today’s accepted distance.

Although early eclipse pioneers, including Chinese astronomer Liu Hsiang, showed initiative and advanced thinking in their conclusions, it was not until 1605 when astronomer Johannes Kepler recorded a scientific observation of a total solar eclipse. More than a century later Edmund Halley published his account of a total solar eclipse that occurred in 1715 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in London. He described the sight although he misinterpreted much of what he saw.

During the eclipse of August 16, 1868, Sir Joseph Lockyer of England and Monsieur Pierre Janssen of France independently discovered the telltale signs of helium in the sun's corona. Helium became the first chemical element to be discovered outside the earth. It takes its name from the Greek word for the sun − Helios. On May 29, 1919, a total solar eclipse was used to prove Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity by showing that gravity can bend light. These days, astronomers also use total solar eclipses to photograph and study the composition of the sun's corona. They time the eclipse accurately to calculate the exact dimensions of the sun.