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AFC Ajax
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Colours
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Colours
Ajax originally played in an all-black strip with a red sash tied around the players' waists, but that strip was soon replaced by a red/white striped shirt and black shorts. Red, black and white are the three colours of the flag of Amsterdam. Under manager Jack Kirwan, however, the club earned promotion to the top flight of Dutch football for the first time in 1911 (then the Eerste Klasse or 'First Class', later named the ), Ajax was forced to change its colours because Sparta Rotterdam already had exactly the same outfit. Special kits for away fixtures did not exist at the time and according to football association regulations the newcomers had to change their colours if two teams in the same league had identical uniforms. Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit.
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AFC Ajax
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Financial
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Financial
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AFC Ajax
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AFC Ajax N.V.
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AFC Ajax N.V.
AFC Ajax is the only Dutch club with an initial public offering (IPO). The club is registered as a Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam, since 17 May 1998. With a launch price of ƒ25,- (Guilders) the club managed to a bring its total revenue up to €54 million (converted) in its first year on the market. After short-lived success, however, the rate dropped, at one point as low as €3.50. Criticism was brought forth that the legal grid for a naamloze vennootschap would not be suitable for a Football club, and that the sports related ambitions would suffer from the new commercial interests of the now listed Ajax. Shares of the company in the year 2008 were valued at approximately €5.90 per share.AFC Ajax chart , Yahoo.com
In 2008, a Commission under guidance of honorary member Uri Coronel concluded that the IPO was of no value to the club, and that measures should be taken to exit the stock exchange by purchasing back all public shares.Ajax beslist nog dit jaar over beursnotering, De Pers, 1 juli 2008 Ajax remain on the stock exchange.
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AFC Ajax
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Sponsorship
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Sponsorship
thumb|300px|2011 AFC Ajax team wearing its home kit by adidas with the AEGON sponsor across the chest, ahead of its UEFA Champions League match against Olympique Lyonnais.
Ajax's shirts have been sponsored by TDK from 1982 to 1991, and by ABN AMRO from 1991 to 2008. AEGON then replaced ABN AMRO as the new head sponsor for a period of seven years. On 1 April 2007, Ajax wore a different sponsor for the match against Heracles Almelo, Florius. Florius is a banking programme launched by ABN AMRO who wanted it to be the shirt sponsor for one match.
The shirts have been manufactured by Le Coq Sportif (1973–1977), Puma (1977–1979), Cor du Buy (1979–1980), Le Coq Sportif (1980–1984), Kappa (1985–1989) and Umbro (1989–2000) in the past, and by Adidas since 2000 (until at least 2025).
At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Ajax won the Football shirt of the Year award for its black and rose colored away shirt by Adidas. The annual award was presented by Subside Sports, which had previously given the award to Internazionale, Juventus and the Belgium national team. It was Ajax's first time winning the award.
On 7 November 2014, it was announced that Ajax had agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract worth €8 million annually with Dutch cable operating company Ziggo as the new shirt sponsor for the club. Having extended its contract with AEGON for half a season until December, the club featured Fonds Gehandicaptensport, a charitable fund for handicapped sports on its away shirts for a six-month period before transitioning to Ziggo in 2015.
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AFC Ajax
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Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
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Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
PeriodKit manufacturerShirt sponsorSleeve sponsorBack sponsor1973–1977Le Coq SportifNoneNoneNone1977–1979Puma1979–1980Cor du Buy1980–1982Le Coq Sportif1982–1984TDK1985–1989Kappa1989–1991Umbro1991–2000ABN AMRO2000–2008Adidas2008–2014AEGON2014AEGON (Home) / Fonds Gehandicaptensport (Away)2014–2020Ziggo2020–2022Curaçao2022–2023Ziggo GigaNet2023–2027Ziggo Sport2027–2031
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AFC Ajax
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Kit deals
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Kit deals
Kit supplier Period Contractannouncement Contractduration Value Notes Adidas 2000–present 13 July 2018 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2025 €50 million for six years
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AFC Ajax
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Other teams
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Other teams
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AFC Ajax
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Reserves team
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Reserves team
Jong Ajax (formerly more commonly known as Ajax 2) is the reserve team of AFC Ajax. The team is composed mostly of professional footballers, who are often recent graduates from the highest youth level (Ajax A1) serving their first professional contract as a reserve, or players who are otherwise unable to play in the first team.
thumb|231x231px|Jong Ajax against NEC Nijmegen in the Eerst divisie in 2018
Since 1992, Jong Ajax competed in the Beloften Eredivisie, competing against other reserve teams such as Jong PSV, Jong FC Groningen or Jong AZ. They have won the Beloften title a record eight times, as well as the KNVB Reserve Cup three times, making them the most successful reserve squad in the Netherlands. By winning the Beloften Eredivisie title, Jong Ajax was able to qualify for the actual KNVB Cup, even advancing to the semi-finals on three occasions. Its best result in the Dutch Cup was under manager Jan Olde Riekerink in 2001–02, when a semi-final loss to Utrecht in a Penalty shoot-out after extra time, which saw Utrecht advance, and thus preventing an Ajax–Jong Ajax Dutch Cup final.
The 2013–14 season marked the Jupiler League debut of the Ajax reserves' squad, Jong Ajax. Previously playing in the Beloften Eredivisie (a separate league for reserve teams, not included in the Dutch professional or amateur league structure), players were allowed to move around freely between the reserve team and the first team during the season. This is no longer the case as Jong Ajax now registers and fields a separate squad from that of Ajax first team for the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Its home matches are played at Sportpark De Toekomst, except for the occasional match in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Now regarded a semi-professional team in its own respect, the only period in which players are able to move between squads are during the transfer windows, unless the player has made less than 15 appearances for the first team, then he is still eligible to appear in both first team and second team matches during the season. Furthermore, the team is not eligible for promotion to the or to participate in the KNVB Cup. Jong Ajax was joined in the Eerste Divisie by Jong Twente and Jong PSV, reserve teams who have also moved from the Beloften to the Eerste Divisie, in place of VV Katwijk, SC Veendam and AGOVV Apeldoorn, increasing the total number of teams in the Jupiler League from 18 to 20.
Ajax reserve squad Jong Ajax left the Beloften Eredivisie in 2013, having held a 21-year tenure in the reserves league, having also won the league title a record eight times (1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009).
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AFC Ajax
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Women's team
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Women's team
AFC Ajax Vrouwen (English: AFC Ajax Women) is the women's team of AFC Ajax, competing in the women's eredivisie, the highest level of women's football in the Netherlands. Founded on 18 May 2012, the women's team saw Ajax attracting many of the Netherlands top talents, with International players such as Anouk Hoogendijk, Daphne Koster and Petra Hogewoning joining the Amsterdam club in its maiden season in women's professional football. The team won its first piece of silverware when they defeated PSV/FC Eindhoven 2–1 in the final of the KNVB Women's Cup.
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AFC Ajax
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Amateur team
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Amateur team
AFC Ajax Amateurs, better known as Ajax Zaterdag, is a Dutch amateur football club founded 18 March 1900. It is the amateur team of the professional club AFC Ajax, playing its home matches at the Sportpark De Toekomst training grounds to a capacity of 5,000. The team was promoted from the Eerste Klasse to the Hoofdklasse ahead of the 2011–12 season, the league in which it is currently competing. The team has won the Eerste Klasse title twice, as well as the *KNVB District Cup West I on two occasions as well.
Furthermore, Ajax Zaterdag has also managed to qualify for the KNVB Cup on its own accord on three occasions, namely in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2021. Even advancing to the second round before bowing out to Vitesse on 24 September 2008.
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AFC Ajax
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Other sports
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Other sports
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AFC Ajax
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Baseball
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Baseball
Ajax HVA (1922–1972) was the baseball team of AFC Ajax founded in 1922, and competed as founding members of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top flight of professional baseball in the Netherlands. Ajax won the national baseball title a total of four times (1924, 1928, 1942, 1948) before the club opted to no longer field a baseball team, and to focus solely on football in 1972. Ajax spent a total of 50 years at the top flight of Baseball in the Netherlands from 1922 to 1972. The dissolution of Ajax baseball club resulted in the players finding a new sponsor in a mustard manufacturing company called Luycks, while merging with the Diemen Giants to become the Luycks Giants, thus replacing both former clubs.
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AFC Ajax
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Esports
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Esports
In 2016, Ajax launched an esports team, with Koen Weijland as the club's first signing, making its debut on the Global stage of professional gaming. They have since signed the likes of Dani Hagebeuk, Lev Vinken, Joey Calabro and Bob van Uden, the latter spent his first season on loan to the esports team of Japanese club Sagan Tosu.
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AFC Ajax
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Affiliated clubs
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Affiliated clubs
The following clubs are currently affiliated with AFC Ajax:
Almere City (2005–present)
Barcelona (2007–present)
Cruzeiro (2007–present)
Beijing Guoan (2007–present)
Palmeiras (2010–present)
AS Trenčín (2012–present)
Guangzhou R&F (2017–present)
Sagan Tosu (2018–present)
Sharjah FC (2020–present)
Sydney FC (2018–present)
Sparta Rotterdam (2019–present)
Various HETT-clubs (See main article)
The following clubs were affiliated with AFC Ajax in the past:
Germinal Beerschot (1999–2003)
Ashanti Goldfields (1999–2003)
Ajax Orlando Prospects (2003–2007)
HFC Haarlem (2006–2010)
Volendam (2007–2010)
Ajax Cape Town (1999–2020)
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AFC Ajax
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Rivalries
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Rivalries
As one of the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands, Ajax have amassed a number of intense rivalries over the years. Listed below are the most significant of the rivalries involving Ajax.
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AFC Ajax
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Rivalry with Feyenoord
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Rivalry with Feyenoord
Feyenoord from Rotterdam is Ajax's archrival. Every year both clubs play the De Klassieker ("The Classic"), a match between the teams from the two largest cities of the Netherlands. Till the 1973/74-season, Ajax and Feyenoord were the only two clubs in the Netherlands who were able to clinch national titles, as well as achieve continental and even global success. From the 1974/75-season on, PSV (Eindhoven) and AZ (Alkmaar) too, competed with Ajax and Feyenoord. A meeting between the two clubs became the measure for who was truly the best club in the Netherlands. The Klassieker is the most famous of all the rivalries in the Netherlands and the matches are always sold out. The fixture is seen in the public eye as "the graceful and elegant football of Ajax, against the indomitable fighting spirit of Feyenoord"; the confidence of the capital city versus the blue collar mentality of Rotterdam. Matches are known for their tension and violence, both on and off the pitch. Over the years, several violent incidents have taken place involving rival supporters, leading to the current prohibition of away supporters in both stadiums. The lowest point was reached on 23 March 1997, when supporters of both clubs met on a field near Beverwijk, where Ajax-supporter Carlo Picornie was fatally injured, the incident is commonly referred to as the "Battle of Beverwijk".
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AFC Ajax
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Rivalry with PSV
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Rivalry with PSV
PSV is also a rival of Ajax, but in terms of tension and rivalry, these matches are not as loaded as the duels with Feyenoord. The rivalry has existed for some time with PSV and stems from various causes, such as the different interpretations of whether current national and international successes of both clubs correlates and the supposed opposition between the Randstad and the province. The matches between these two teams is commonly referred to as "De Topper" ("The Topper"), and involves the two most trophy-laden sides in Dutch football and is essentially a clash of two competing schools of thought in Dutch football. Historically, PSV compete with a workmanlike ethic, preferring a more robust 4–3–1–2 or 4–2–3–1, typically shunning the frivolous 4–3–3 approach favoured in Amsterdam. While Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff helped to innovate Total Football in the sixties and seventies, a different philosophy was honed in Eindhoven by Kees Rijvers and Guus Hiddink in the late 1970s and '80s. This in turn has created one of the more philosophical rivalries in football, an ideological battleground, which is gradually becoming as heated and intense as the matches Ajax and Feyenoord partake in.
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AFC Ajax
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Rivalries with other clubs
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Rivalries with other clubs
Aside from Feyenoord and PSV, Ajax have several other rivalries, although in most cases the sentiment is mostly felt by the opposition and is more directed towards Ajax, with one of them being Utrecht. Although the rivalry is more felt on the Utrecht side then with Ajax, matchups between the two sides are often quite intense. Both teams have fanatic supporters, and clashes off the pitch are more often the rule than the exception. The same goes for ADO Den Haag, with both supporter groups often getting in conflicts, when ADO-Hooligans set fire to the supporters home of Ajax, and Ajax hooligans subsequently broke into the Supporters home of ADO tensions between the two clubs rose. In 2006, supporters from both clubs were banned from attending away matches for five years due to frequent violent outbreaks and clashes.
Further teams who share a rivalry with Ajax include Twente, Vitesse Arnhem, Groningen and AZ, although the latter is often regarded by Ajax supporters as the club's "little brother". With AZ being from nearby Alkmaar and therefore situated in the same province as Ajax, match-ups between the two sides are commonly known as the "De Noord-Hollandse Derby" ("North Holland Derby") and are often very competitive, intense and loaded fixtures.
Past rivalries include local Amsterdam derbies between Ajax and clubs such as Blauw-Wit, DWS and De Volewijckers (which later merged to become FC Amsterdam in 1972). However, the tension between the local sides lessened as the division of the clubs through playing in different leagues over time became greater. Years of not competing in the same league resulted in less frequent match-ups, until tensions finally settled between the Amsterdam clubs. The last Amsterdam derby to take place in an official league match was when Ajax defeated FC Amsterdam 5–1 on 19 March 1978.
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AFC Ajax
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Supporters
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Supporters
thumb|350px|Ajax supporters
Ajax is known for having fanatic core supporter-groups, of which F-Side and VAK410 are the most famous. The F-Side was founded on 3 October 1976, and is situated right behind the goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena, on the southern end of the stadium in rows 125–129. Its name is derived from the group's former location on the F-side of the old De Meer Stadion. The F-side supporters are responsible for a big part of the atmosphere in the stadium, and are also known for rioting during and after matches. If in any match Ajax should win the coin toss, the second half of the match Ajax always play towards the south-end of the stadium. VAK410 (English: Row 410) was founded in 2001 and is situated in the Zuidhoek (South corner) of the stadium on the upper ring in rows 424–425. The group was originally situated on the North-West side of the stadium in row 410, from where it derives its name, until relocating to their current place in the stands in 2008. Members of VAK410 are known to perform various stunts, which include massive banners, to enhance the atmosphere in the stadium. Neither F-Side or VAK410 have seats in their sections of the stadium, and both groups stand for the duration of the match.
Through the official Football Top 20 of Dutch sports research group SPORT+MARKT, it was revealed in 2010 that Ajax had approximately 7.1 million supporters throughout Europe. This is significantly more than rivals Feyenoord and PSV (each 1.6 and 1.3 million, respectively), which puts Ajax as the club with the 15th-most supporters across Europe. The study also revealed that approximately 39% of the Netherlands were Ajax supporters.Ajax wint nog meer fans, Barça populairste club Not only does Ajax have many supporters, but several fans attend their matches in European competition, with an average attendance of 48,677 spectators for every international match Ajax played, putting the team at 12th place in Europe for highest attendance, ahead of high-profile clubs such as Milan and Chelsea. It is noteworthy that not all stadiums share the capacity of the Johan Cruyff Arena.
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AFC Ajax
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Supporters clubs
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Supporters clubs
thumb|265px|Ajax supporters celebrating the club's 30th Dutch national championship in 2011
The Supporters Club Ajax () is officially the largest supporters club in the Netherlands with 94,000 members. Founded on 7 May 1992, the supporters club organize big monthly events throughout the Netherlands, and particularly around the official Ajax Open Training Day, which attracts thousands of supporters each year. Furthermore, the supporters group is responsible for the Ajax Life website, as well as the fanzine which is issued 20 times a year.
In 2006, the AFCA Supportersclub was introduced as the club's second official supporters' association, through the merger of the Onafhankelijke Fanclub Ajax (OFA) and the Ajax Supporters Delegatie (ASD). The AFCA Supportersclub has a reported 42,000 members, as well as a former member on the Board of Administration of Ajax, in Ronald Pieloor.
The third official supporters club is the Ajax Business Associates (ABA). Founded in 1991 the ABA is the Business club of Ajax. Members occupy the skyboxes in the Stadium and can make use of the clubs' amenities and luxury suites including the ABA club and lounge. The ABA is also responsible for hosting the annual Ajax Business Golf Trophy, an amateur golf tournament where several active and former Ajax players, as well as prominent people and members of the ABA, participate.
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AFC Ajax
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Average attendance
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Average attendance
This graph displays the average attendance for home matches of Ajax from 1988 to 2018, whereby the difference in capacity of the De Meer Stadion and the Johan Cruyff Arena (est. 1996) is clearly visible.
88/8989/9090/9191/9292/9393/9494/9595/9696/9797/9898/9999/0000/0101/0202/0303/0404/0505/0606/0707/0808/0909/1010/1111/1212/1313/1414/1515/1616/1717/18
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AFC Ajax
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Mascot
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Mascot
Lucky Lynx, is the official team mascot."Lucky Lynx Bio ", Ajax.nl, accessed 7 August 2013. (2000–present)
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AFC Ajax
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Jewish connection and anti-semitism
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Jewish connection and anti-semitism
thumb|Supporters with Israeli flags in 2008
Historically, Ajax was popularly seen as having "Jewish roots". While it had fewer Jewish players than WV-HEDW, Ajax has had a Jewish image since the 1930s when the home stadium was located next to a Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost and opponents saw many supporters walking through the Nieuwmarkt/Waterloopleinbuurt (de Jodenhoek—the "Jews' corner") to get to the stadium. The city of Amsterdam was historically referred to as a Mokum city, Mokum (מקום) being the Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven",, though 75% of the Jewish citizens were killed during the Holocaust.. As anti-Semitic chants and name calling developed and intensified at the old De Meer Stadion from frustrated supporters of opposing clubs, Ajax fans (few of whom are Jewish) responded by embracing Ajax's "Jewish" identity: calling themselves "super Jews", chanting "Jews, Jews" ("Joden, Joden") at games, and adopting Jewish symbols such as the Star of David and the Israeli flag, similar to what supporters of the English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur did with the term "yid"
This Jewish imagery eventually became a central part of Ajax fans' culture. At one point, ringtones of "Hava Nagila", a Hebrew folk song, could be downloaded from the club's official website. Beginning in the 1980s, fans of Ajax's rivals escalated their anti-Semitic rhetoric, chanting slogans like "Hamas, Hamas/Jews to the gas" ("Hamas, hamas, joden aan het gas"), hissing to imitate the flow of gas, giving Nazi salutes, and other things. The eventual result was that many genuinely Jewish Ajax fans stopped going to games.
In the 2000s, the club began trying to persuade fans to drop its Jewish image. In 2013, a documentary titled Superjews was released by NTR and Viewpoint Productions which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film was directed by Nirit Peled, an Israeli living in Amsterdam, and an independent film maker who offers a very personal view into the game, the lore of Ajax and its relation to Judaism from both the supporters as well as from a Jewish perspective.
Before and after a UEFA Europa League game between the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax on Thursday 7 November 2024 in the Johan Cruyff Arena, tensions surrounding the Gaza war erupted into violence.Relatively neutral news coverage includes:
Generally pro-Jewish/anti-Arab news coverage includes:
Generally pro-Arab/anti-Jewish coverage includes:
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AFC Ajax
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Players
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Players
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AFC Ajax
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Current squad
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Current squad
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AFC Ajax
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Players out on loan
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Players out on loan
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AFC Ajax
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Retired numbers
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Retired numbers
thumb|100px|The iconic number 14, retired in 2007 to honor Johan Cruyff
14 – Johan Cruyff (Forward, 1964–73, 1981–83). Number retired on 25 April 2007 at Cruyff's 60th birthday celebration match.
Notes:
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AFC Ajax
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Youth/reserves squad
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Youth/reserves squad
For the reserve squad of Ajax see: Jong Ajax.
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AFC Ajax
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Notable former players
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Notable former players
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AFC Ajax
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Board and staff
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Board and staff
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AFC Ajax
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Current board
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Current board
Executive Board
Chairman: Ernst Boekhorst
Board members: 7 – ( John Busink, Marjon Eijlers, Giovanni Fränkel, Pim van Dord, René Zegerius, Edo Ophof, Christian Visser.
Board of Directors
Chief executive officer: Menno Geelen (ad interim)
Chief financial officer: Baboeram Panday
Chief commercial officer: Cas Biesta (ad interim)
Technical Director: Alex Kroes
Director of Football: Marijn Beuker
Supervisory Board
Chairman: Carolien Gehrels
Board members: 4 – ( Danny Blind, Sirik Goeman, Dirk Anbeek, Hermine Voûte.
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AFC Ajax
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Current staff
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Current staff
Coaching staff
Head coach: Vacant
Assistant coaches: Daniele Cavalletto Dave Vos Felipe Sanchez Mateos
Goalkeeping coach: Jarkko Tuomisto
Goalkeeping coach: Erik Heijblok
Performance coach: Sam Feringa
Video analyst: Osman Kul
Video analyst: Kevin Keij
Medical staff
Team doctor: Bas Peijs
Head physio: Maarten Gozeling
Club doctor: Niels Wijne
Fitness coach: Callum Walsh
Fitness coach: Maikel van Wijk
Physiotherapist: Frank van Deursen
Accompanying staff
Team manager: Jan Siemerink
Players supervisor: Herman Pinkster
Loan coach: Michel Kreek
Press officer: Miel Brinkhuis
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AFC Ajax
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List of Ajax chairmen
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List of Ajax chairmen
Floris Stempel (1900–08)
Chris Holst (1908–10)
Han Dade (1910–12)
Chris Holst (1912–13)
Willem Egeman (1913–25)
Frans Schoevaart (1925–32)
Marius Koolhaas (1932–56)
Wim Volkers (1956–58)
Jan Melchers (1958–64)
Jaap van Praag (1964–78)
Ton Harmsen (1978–88)
Michael van Praag (1989–2003)
John Jaakke (2003–08)
Uri Coronel (2008–11)
Hennie Henrichs (2011–20)
Frank Eijken (2020–2023)
Ernst Boekhorst (2023–present)
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AFC Ajax
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List of Ajax coaches
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List of Ajax coaches
Jack Kirwan (1910–15)
Jack Reynolds (1915–25)
Harold Rose (1925–26)
Stanley Castle (1926–28)
Jack Reynolds (1928–40)
Vilmos Halpern (1940–41)
Wim Volkers (1941–42)
Dolf van Kol (1942–45)
Jack Reynolds (1945–47)
Robert Smith (1947–48)
Walter Crook (1948–50)
Robert Thomson (1950–52)
Karel Kaufman (1952–53)
Walter Crook (1953–54)
Karl Humenberger (1954–59)
Vic Buckingham (1959–61)
Keith Spurgeon (1961–62)
Joseph Gruber (1962–63)
Jack Rowley (1963–64)
Vic Buckingham (1964–65)
Rinus Michels (1965–71)
Ștefan Kovács (1971–73)
George Knobel (1973–74)
Bobby Haarms (1974, interim)
Hans Kraay (1974–75)
Jan van Daal (1975, interim)
Rinus Michels (1975–76)
Tomislav Ivić (1976–78)
Cor Brom (1978–79)
Leo Beenhakker (1979–81)
Aad de Mos (1981, interim)
Kurt Linder (1981–82)
Aad de Mos (1982–85)
Antoine Kohn, Tonny Bruins Slot and Cor van der Hart (1985, interim)
Johan Cruyff (1985–88)
Kurt Linder (1988)
Antoine Kohn, Bobby Haarms and Barry Hulshoff (1988–89, interim)
Leo Beenhakker (1989–91)
Louis van Gaal (1991–97)
Morten Olsen (1997–99)
Jan Wouters (1999–2000)
Hans Westerhof (2000, interim)
Co Adriaanse (2000–01)
Ronald Koeman (2001–05)
Ruud Krol (2005, interim)
Danny Blind (2005–06)
Henk ten Cate (2006–07)
Adrie Koster (2007–08, interim)
Marco van Basten (2008–09)
John van 't Schip (2009, interim)
Martin Jol (2009–10)
Frank de Boer (2010–16)
Peter Bosz (2016–17)
Marcel Keizer (2017)
Michael Reiziger (2017, interim)
Erik ten Hag (2017–2022)
Alfred Schreuder (2022–2023)
John Heitinga (2023, interim)
Maurice Steijn (2023)
Hedwiges Maduro (2023, interim)
John van 't Schip (2023–2024, interim)
Francesco Farioli (2024–2025)
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AFC Ajax
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Honours
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Honours
thumb|Several of Ajax' international trophies
TypeCompetitionTitlesSeasonsDomestic Eredivisie 361917–18, 1918–19, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1946–47, 1956–57, 1959–60
18px, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82 18px, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11 18px, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22 KNVB Cup 201916–17, 1942–43, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1969-70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2018–19, 2020–21Johan Cruyff Shield 91993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2019 ContinentalUEFA Champions League41970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1994–95UEFA Europa League11991–92UEFA Cup Winners' Cup11986–87UEFA Super Cup21973, 1995WorldwideIntercontinental Cup 21972, 1995
shared record
Ajax also won in 1972, however UEFA only sanctioned the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in 1973 so the 1972 edition was an unofficial one. Played against Rangers, winners of the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, it went ahead as 'a celebration of the Centenary of Rangers F.C.' (see below) because Rangers was serving a one-year ban at the time, imposed by UEFA for the misbehaviour of its fans. That victory meant Ajax had won every tournament (5 in total) they entered that year, a feat Celtic achieved in 1967 (with 6 trophies), Barcelona in 2009 (6 trophies), and Bayern in 2020 (also 6 trophies).
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AFC Ajax
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Other trophies
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Other trophies
Ajax have won numerous friendly tournaments, unsanctioned by UEFA or FIFA, including the Amsterdam Tournament, Bruges Matins Trophy, Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu, Eusébio Cup, Ted Bates Trophy, Jalkapalloturnaus and Chippie Polar Cup (for a complete list, see: list of AFC Ajax honours).
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AFC Ajax
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Club awards
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Club awards
World Soccer World Team of the Year : 1
1995
France Football European Team of the Year : 4
1969, 1971, 1972, 1973
Dutch Sports Team of the Year : 5
1968, 1969, 1972, 1987, 1995
Sports Team of the Year : 1
1990
IFFHS The World's Club Team of the Year : 1
1992
Dick van Rijn Trophy : 1
1995
Amsterdam Sportsteam of the year: 3
2011, 2013, 2014
ING Fair Play Award : 2
2013, 2014Ajax wint ING Fair Play-prijs , website knvb.nl (14 May 2013)fair-play-prijs Ajax winnaar ING Fair Play-prijs, website knvb.nl (5 May 2014)
Fair Play Cup : 1
1995
FIFA Club of the Century : shared 5th place
20th Century
kicker Sportmagazin Club of the Century: 2nd place
20th Century
Best Dutch club after 50 years of professional football : 1
2004
Football shirt of the Year : Ajax away shirt by adidas
2013–14
The Four-Four-Two Greatest Club Side Ever : Ajax (1965–1973)
2013
VVCS Best Pitch of the Year : 1
2012
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AFC Ajax
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Honorary club members
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Honorary club members
Ajax have a total of 50 honorary club members, from people who have been invested within the club's administrative engagements, to committed players who have excelled in the athletic department. Of those 50 members 41 have since died. Nine members still remain, including Louis van Gaal. He was made honorary member in 2024.
Hennie Henrichs
Arie van Os
Michael van Praag
Rob Been sr.
Sjaak Swart
Hans Bijvank
Leo van Wijk
Jan Buskermolen
Louis van Gaal
The remaining 41 honorary members who have since died:Overleden Ereleden van Ajax Ajax.nl
Floris Stempel
Han Dade
Chris Holst
L.W. van Fliet
K.W.F. van der Lee
Henk Alofs
Frans Schoevaart
Jan Grootmeijer
J. Oudheusden
Willem Egeman
Jan Schoevaart
Marius Koolhaas
Jordanus Roodenburgh
Theo Brokmann
F.H.W. de Bruijn
Jan de Boer
Frans Couton
A.L. Desmit
Wim Anderiesen
Wim Volkers
Jan Elzenga
Roef Vunderink
Kick Geudeker
G. de Jongh
Jack Reynolds
Ferry Dukker
Arie de Wit
W.F.C. Bruijnesteijn
Jan Westrik
Jaap van Praag
Henk Hordijk
M.J.W. Middendorp
Rinus Michels
Henk Timman
Jan Potharst
Bobby Haarms
André Kraan
Willem Schoevaart
Johan Cruyff
Uri Coronel
Tijn Middendorp
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AFC Ajax
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Results
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Results
280px|thumb|Historical chart of league performance
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AFC Ajax
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Domestic results
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Domestic results
Below is a table with Ajax's domestic results since the introduction of the in 1956.
Domestic results since 1956Domestic leagueLeague resultQualification toKNVB Cup seasonCup result2023–24 Eredivisie 5thEuropa League (Q2)2023–24second round2022–23 Eredivisie3rdEuropa League (Q4)2022–23final2021–22 Eredivisie1stChampions League2021–22final2020–21 Eredivisie1stChampions League2020–21winners2019–20 Eredivisie 1st (no title awarded)Champions League2019–20semi-final2018–19 Eredivisie1stChampions League2018–19winners2017–18 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q2)2017–18round of 162016–17 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q3)2016–17third round2015–16 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q3)2015–16third round2014–15 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q3)2014–15round of 162013–14 Eredivisie1stChampions League2013–14final2012–13 Eredivisie1stChampions League2012–13semi-final2011–12 Eredivisie1stChampions League2011–12fourth round2010–11 Eredivisie1stChampions League2010–11final2009–10 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q2)2009–10winners2008–09 Eredivisie3rdEuropa League (Q4)2008–09third round2007–08 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup (after losing CL-play-offs)2007–08round of 162006–07 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (winning CL-play-offs) (Q3)2006–07winners2005–06 Eredivisie4thChampions League (winning CL-play-offs) (Q3)2005–06winners2004–05 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q3)2004–05semi-final2003–04 Eredivisie1stChampions League2003–04round of 162002–03 Eredivisie2ndChampions League (Q3)2002–03semi-final2001–02 Eredivisie1stChampions League2001–02winners2000–01 Eredivisie3rdChampions League (Q3)2000–01round of 161999–2000 Eredivisie5thUEFA Cup1999–2000round of 161998–99 Eredivisie6thUEFA Cup1998–99winners1997–98 Eredivisie1stChampions League1997–98winners1996–97 Eredivisie4thUEFA Cup1996–97second round1995–96 Eredivisie1stChampions League1995–96round of 161994–95 Eredivisie1stChampions League1994–95quarter final1993–94 Eredivisie1stChampions League1993–94semi-final1992–93 Eredivisie3rdCup Winners' Cup1992–93winners1991–92 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup1991–92quarter final1990–91 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup1990–91quarter final1989–90 Eredivisie1stDSQ1989–90semi-final1988–89 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup1988–89quarter final1987–88 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup1987–88second round1986–87 Eredivisie2ndCup Winners' Cup1986–87winners1985–86 Eredivisie2ndCup Winners' Cup1985–86winners1984–85 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1984–85round of 161983–84 Eredivisie3rdUEFA Cup1983–84round of 161982–83 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1982–83winners1981–82 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1981–82round of 161980–81 Eredivisie2ndCup Winners' Cup1980–81final1979–80 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1979–80final1978–79 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1978–79winners1977–78 Eredivisie2ndUEFA Cup1977–78final1976–77 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1976–77second round1975–76 Eredivisie3rdUEFA Cup1975–76quarter final1974–75 Eredivisie3rdUEFA Cup1974–75round of 161973–74 Eredivisie3rdUEFA Cup1973–74semi-final1972–73 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup (R2)1972–73second round1971–72 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup (R2)1971–72winners1970–71 Eredivisie2ndEuropean Cup1970–71winners1969–70 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1969–70winners1968–69 Eredivisie2ndInter-Cities Fairs Cup1968–69round of 16 1967–68 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1967–68final1966–67 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1966–67winners1965–66 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1965–66quarter final 1964–65 Eredivisie13th –1964–65first round 1963–64 Eredivisie5th –1963–64semi-final 1962–63 Eredivisie2nd –1962–63round of 16 1961–62 Eredivisie4th –1961–62? 1960–61 Eredivisie2nd –1960–61winners1959–60 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cupnot heldnot held1958–59 Eredivisie6th –1958–59? 1957–58 Eredivisie3rd –1957–58? 1956–57 Eredivisie1stEuropean Cup1956–57?
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AFC Ajax
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Continental results
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Continental results
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AFC Ajax
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Team records
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Team records
Most match appearances: 463 – Sjaak Swart
Most goals scored: 273 – Piet van Reenen
Most goals scored in a season: 41 – Henk Groot
First Ajax player to receive an International cap: Gerard Fortgens for the Netherlands in 1911
First Ajax player to score a goal for the national team: Theo Brokmann for the Netherlands in 1919
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AFC Ajax
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Club van 100
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Club van 100
The Club van 100 is the official list of Football players who have appeared in one hundred or more official matches for AFC Ajax. The club currently has a total of over 150 members.Blind 150ste in Club van 100 (Dutch) Ajax.nl, 18 August 2013 The record for league appearances is held by Mr. Ajax himself Sjaak Swart, who appeared in 463 league matches for Ajax.Suarez in 'club van 100' bij Ajax (Dutch) AD.nl, 28 July 2010 There is a beneficiary team called Lucky Ajax, which was initiated by Sjaak Swart. Lucky Ajax participate in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity, and commonly at football ceremonies to bid farewell to retiring players. One of the prerequisites for playing on Lucky Ajax, which is invitational only, is that you are a member of the Club van 100, having made at least 100 official match appearances for Ajax in the first team of the club.Swart wordt 75 jaar in Olympisch Stadion (Dutch) De Telegraaf, 25 April 2013
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AFC Ajax
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Lucky Ajax
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Lucky Ajax
Lucky Ajax is a beneficiary team that was initiated by Sjaak Swart in the seventies, competing in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity and/or to bid farewell to retiring former Ajax players. The team is made up of various members of the Club van 100 of Ajax who will come out of retirement for this match to face the Ajax squad that is current of that year.Lucky Ajax speelt altijd om de eer (Dutch) Ajax.nl, 15 April 2012 Past participants have included Barry Hulshoff, Sonny Silooy, Simon Tahamata, Ronald Koeman, Tscheu La Ling, Gerrie Mühren, John van 't Schip, Brian Roy, Stanley Menzo, Peter van Vossen and Fred Grim.Lucky Ajax wint unieke 'Oude Klassieker' (Dutch) Ajax.nl, 15 April 2012 The name Lucky Ajax is derived from the famous "Lucky Ajax" nickname from how people used to refer to the club when Ajax would either win a match by chance, by a decision of a referee, or by coincidence such as was said to be the case during the infamous Mistwedstrijd ("Fog Match").Column: Sjaak Swart; hoe nu verder? (Dutch) SVV Be Quick.nl, 15 April 2012
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AFC Ajax
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Number 14 shirt
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Number 14 shirt
As of the 2007–08 season, no player could wear the number 14 shirt at Ajax after the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for Johan Cruyff, "the legendary number fourteen". Cruyff himself laughed off the tribute, saying the club had to let its best player play with number 14."Ajax Retires number 14" , FourFourTwo website, 19 April 2007 Spanish midfielder Roger was the last player to wear the number. Marvin Zeegelaar wore the shirt number in preparation for the 2011–12 season in one preseason match, while Aras Özbiliz wore the number 14 shirt in one pre-season match ahead of the 2011–12 season as well. The club stated that this was, in fact, not done in error.Özbiliz: 'Ik kreeg rugnummer veertien en ze zeiden dat het klopte' Voetbalzone, 3 juli 2011
Below is a list of all players to wear the number 14 shirt since Johan Cruyff's departure.Alle Ajacieden met nummer veertien sinds Johan Cruijff Sportgeschiedenis, 21 April 2007
Zoltán Varga – 1973–74 season
Jan Mulder – 1974–75 season
Geert Meijer – 1975–76 season
Frank Arnesen – 1976–77 and 1977–78 seasons
Tscheu La Ling – 1978–79 season
Karel Bonsink – 1979–80 season
Frank Rijkaard – 1980–81 season (uncertain)
Sonny Silooy – 1981–82 season
Marco van Basten – 1982–83 season
From 1983 to 1997, reserves no longer received permanent shirt numbers. Dani – 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons
Martijn Reuser – 1999–00 season
Brutil Hosé – 2000–01 season
Shota Arveladze – 2001–02 season
Jan van Halst – 2002–03 season
Jelle Van Damme – 2003–04 season
Thomas Vermaelen – 2004–05 season
Maxwell – 2005–06 season
Roger – 2006–07 season
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AFC Ajax
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Former captains
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Former captains
Tenure Player1964–1967 Frits Soetekouw1967–1970 Gert Bals1970–1971 Velibor Vasović 1971–1972 Piet Keizer1972–1973 Johan Cruyff1973–1974 Piet Keizer1974–1980 Ruud Krol1980–1981 Frank Arnesen1981–1983 Søren Lerby1983–1985 Dick Schoenaker1985 Frank Rijkaard1985–1987 Marco van Basten1987–1990 John van 't Schip1990–1999 Danny Blind1999–2001 Aron Winter2001–2003 Cristian Chivu2003–2004 Jari Litmanen2004–2005 Rafael Van der Vaart2005–2006 Tomáš Galásek2006–2007 Jaap Stam2007–2009 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar2009 Thomas Vermaelen2009–2011 Luis Suárez2011 Maarten Stekelenburg2011–2012 Jan Vertonghen2012–2014 Siem de Jong2014–2015 Niklas Moisander2015–2017 Davy Klaassen2017–2018 Joël Veltman2018–2019 Matthijs de Ligt2019–2023 Dušan Tadić2023–2024 Steven Bergwijn2024– Jordan Henderson
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AFC Ajax
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Team tournaments
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Team tournaments
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AFC Ajax
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Amsterdam Tournament
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Amsterdam Tournament
Established in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. The tournament was hosted annually each summer by Ajax until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participated in the competition, played in a league format since 1986. Since its return,"Black Cats to compete in Ajax cup" . BBC Sport. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2010. the tournament used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. An additional point, however, was awarded for each goal scored."Arsenal strike late to sink Ajax" . BBC Sport. 29 July 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2010. The system was designed to reward teams that adopted a more attacking style of play."Sunderland play in Amsterdam tournament" . Sunderland Echo. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2010. Each entrant played two matches, with the winner being the club that finished at the top of the table."FC Porto 1–2 Arsenal" . BBC Sport. 31 July 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2010. The original competition was held at Het Olympisch Stadion where Ajax played the bigget games until 1996."The club" . Ajax. Retrieved 10 September 2010. The Amsterdam Arena (now Johan Cruyff Arena) played host to the event since its return until the last edition was played in 2009. Ajax is the most successful team of the tournament, having won it a record ten times, while Benfica from Portugal was the last team to win the tournament, in 2009.
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AFC Ajax
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Copa Amsterdam
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Copa Amsterdam
Established in 2005, the Copa Amsterdam is an international friendly football tournament for Under-19 youth teams, that is organized by Ajax and the Amsterdam city council, which takes place at the Olympic Stadium as part of the annual Amsterdam Sports Weekend, a citywide sponsored initiative to promote 'sports and recreation' within the city of Amsterdam. Each Summer the city of Amsterdam and Ajax invite U-19 teams from various top clubs from around the World to participate in the tournament. Seven teams are invited and play in the competition every year. Over the years, clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Real Madrid have had their senior youth teams participate in the tournament. Cruzeiro from Brazil is the most successful club in the history of the tournament, having won it three times in total.
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AFC Ajax
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Future Cup
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Future Cup
Established in 2010, the AEGON Future Cup is an international friendly tournament for Under-17 youth teams, which is organized by AFC Ajax and their main sponsor, the insurance company AEGON. The tournament is held each year at the Johan Cruyff Arena and at the Sportpark De Toekomst, the team's training ground, which also inspired the name of the competition, since De Toekomst in Dutch means The Future. Every year during the Easter weekend, six U-17 teams are invited to participate in the competition, while the seventh place for the contesters is reserved for the winners of the "Craques Mongeral AEGON Future Cup" in Brazil, the sister competition of the tournament in South America. Youth teams from top clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Milan and many more have participated in the competition over the years. Ajax is the most successful club of the tournament, having won the trophy a total of five times.
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AFC Ajax
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See also
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See also
List of football clubs in the Netherlands
List of world champion football clubs
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AFC Ajax
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Bibliography
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Bibliography
David Endt, De godenzonen van Ajax, Rap, Amsterdam, 1993,
Jan Baltus Kok, Naar Ajax. Mobiliteitspatronen van bezoekers bij vier thuiswedstrijden van Ajax, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1992,
Simon Kuper, Ajax, The Dutch, The War. Football in Europe during the Second World War, Orion Books, London (Translation of: Ajax, de Joden en Nederland ("Ajax, the Jews, The Netherlands)", 2003,
Evert Vermeer, 95 jaar Ajax. 1900–1995, Luitingh-Sijthoff, Amsterdam, 1996,
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AFC Ajax
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External links
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External links
AFC Ajax at weltfussballarchiv
AFC Ajax at soccerway
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AFC Ajax
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References
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References
Category:Football clubs in Amsterdam
Category:Football clubs in the Netherlands
Category:1900 establishments in the Netherlands
Category:Association football clubs established in 1900
Category:G-14 clubs
Aj
Aj
Aj
Aj
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AFC Ajax
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Table of Content
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Short description, History, UEFA ranking, Academies, Stadiums, Crest and colours, Crest, Colours, Financial, AFC Ajax N.V., Sponsorship, Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors, Kit deals, Other teams, Reserves team, Women's team, Amateur team, Other sports, Baseball, Esports, Affiliated clubs, Rivalries, Rivalry with Feyenoord, Rivalry with PSV, Rivalries with other clubs, Supporters, Supporters clubs, Average attendance, Mascot, Jewish connection and anti-semitism, Players, Current squad, Players out on loan, Retired numbers, Youth/reserves squad, Notable former players, Board and staff, Current board, Current staff, List of Ajax chairmen, List of Ajax coaches, Honours, Other trophies, Club awards, Honorary club members, Results, Domestic results, Continental results, Team records, Club van 100, Lucky Ajax, Number 14 shirt, Former captains, Team tournaments, Amsterdam Tournament, Copa Amsterdam, Future Cup, See also, Bibliography, External links, References
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Arthur Eddington
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short description
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Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.
Around 1920, he foreshadowed the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars".The Internal Constitution of the Stars A. S. Eddington The Scientific Monthly Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct., 1920), pp. 297–303 At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington was the first to correctly speculate that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium.
Eddington wrote a number of articles that announced and explained Einstein's theory of general relativity to the English-speaking world. World War I had severed many lines of scientific communication, and new developments in German science were not well known in England. He also conducted an expedition to observe the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 on the Island of Príncipe that provided one of the earliest confirmations of general relativity, and he became known for his popular expositions and interpretations of the theory.
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Arthur Eddington
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Early years
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Early years
Eddington was born 28 December 1882 in Kendal, Westmorland (now Cumbria), England, the son of Quaker parents, Arthur Henry Eddington, headmaster of the Quaker School, and Sarah Ann Shout.
His father taught at a Quaker training college in Lancashire before moving to Kendal to become headmaster of Stramongate School. He died in the typhoid epidemic which swept England in 1884. His mother was left to bring up her two children with relatively little income. The family moved to Weston-super-Mare where at first Stanley (as his mother and sister always called Eddington) was educated at home before spending three years at a preparatory school. The family lived in a house called Varzin, at 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare. A commemorative plaque on the building explains Eddington's contributions to science.
In 1893 Eddington entered Brynmelyn School. He proved to be a most capable scholar, particularly in mathematics and English literature. His performance earned him a scholarship to Owens College, Manchester (what was later to become the University of Manchester), in 1898, which he was able to attend, having turned 16 that year. He spent the first year in a general course, but he turned to physics for the next three years. Eddington was greatly influenced by his physics and mathematics teachers, Arthur Schuster and Horace Lamb. At Manchester, Eddington lived at Dalton Hall, where he came under the lasting influence of the Quaker mathematician J. W. Graham. His progress was rapid, winning him several scholarships, and he graduated with a BSc in physics with First Class Honours in 1902.
Based on his performance at Owens College, he was awarded a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1902. His tutor at Cambridge was Robert Alfred Herman and in 1904 Eddington became the first ever second-year student to be placed as Senior Wrangler. After receiving his M.A. in 1905, he began research on thermionic emission in the Cavendish Laboratory. This did not go well, and meanwhile he spent time teaching mathematics to first year engineering students. This hiatus was brief. Through a recommendation by E. T. Whittaker, his senior colleague at Trinity College, he secured a position at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, where he was to embark on his career in astronomy, a career whose seeds had been sown even as a young child when he would often "try to count the stars".
thumb|Plaque at 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare
alt=Eddington are on a horse; possibly during the Fifth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, held in Bonn, Germany|thumb|Eddington, right, on a toy donkey; possibly during the Fifth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, held in Bonn, Germany, 1913
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Arthur Eddington
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Astronomy
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Astronomy
In January 1906, Eddington was nominated to the post of chief assistant to the Astronomer Royal at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He left Cambridge for Greenwich the following month. He was put to work on a detailed analysis of the parallax of 433 Eros on photographic plates that had started in 1900. He developed a new statistical method based on the apparent drift of two background stars, winning him the Smith's Prize in 1907. The prize won him a fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge. In December 1912, George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin, died suddenly, and Eddington was promoted to his chair as the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy in early 1913. Later that year, Robert Ball, holder of the theoretical Lowndean chair, also died, and Eddington was named the director of the entire Cambridge Observatory the next year. In May 1914, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society: he was awarded the Royal Medal in 1928 and delivered the Bakerian Lecture in 1926.
Eddington also investigated the interior of stars through theory, and developed the first true understanding of stellar processes. He began this in 1916 with investigations of possible physical explanations for Cepheid variable stars. He began by extending Karl Schwarzschild's earlier work on radiation pressure in Emden polytropic models. These models treated a star as a sphere of gas held up against gravity by internal thermal pressure, and one of Eddington's chief additions was to show that radiation pressure was necessary to prevent collapse of the sphere. He developed his model despite knowingly lacking firm foundations for understanding opacity and energy generation in the stellar interior. However, his results allowed for calculation of temperature, density and pressure at all points inside a star (thermodynamic anisotropy), and Eddington argued that his theory was so useful for further astrophysical investigation that it should be retained despite not being based on completely accepted physics. James Jeans contributed the important suggestion that stellar matter would certainly be ionized, but that was the end of any collaboration between the pair, who became famous for their lively debates.
Eddington defended his method by pointing to the utility of his results, particularly his important mass–luminosity relation. This had the unexpected result of showing that virtually all stars, including giants and dwarfs, behaved as ideal gases. In the process of developing his stellar models, he sought to overturn current thinking about the sources of stellar energy. Jeans and others defended the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism, which was based on classical mechanics, while Eddington speculated broadly about the qualitative and quantitative consequences of possible proton–electron annihilation and nuclear fusion processes.
Around 1920, he anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars". At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington correctly speculated that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to Einstein's equation . This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and thermonuclear energy, and even the fact that stars are largely composed of hydrogen (see metallicity), had not yet been discovered. Eddington's paper, based on knowledge at the time, reasoned that:
The leading theory of stellar energy, the contraction hypothesis (cf. the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism), should cause stars' rotation to visibly speed up due to conservation of angular momentum. But observations of Cepheid variable stars showed this was not happening.
The only other known plausible source of energy was conversion of matter to energy; Einstein had shown some years earlier that a small amount of matter was equivalent to a large amount of energy.
Francis Aston had also recently shown that the mass of a helium atom was about 0.8% less than the mass of the four hydrogen atoms which would, combined, form a helium atom, suggesting that if such a combination could happen, it would release considerable energy as a byproduct.
If a star contained just 5% of fusible hydrogen, it would suffice to explain how stars got their energy. (We now know that most "ordinary" stars contain far more than 5% hydrogen.)
Further elements might also be fused, and other scientists had speculated that stars were the "crucible" in which light elements combined to create heavy elements, but without more-accurate measurements of their atomic masses nothing more could be said at the time.
All of these speculations were proven correct in the following decades.
With these assumptions, he demonstrated that the interior temperature of stars must be millions of degrees. In 1924, he discovered the mass–luminosity relation for stars (see Lecchini in ). Despite some disagreement, Eddington's models were eventually accepted as a powerful tool for further investigation, particularly in issues of stellar evolution. The confirmation of his estimated stellar diameters by Michelson in 1920 proved crucial in convincing astronomers unused to Eddington's intuitive, exploratory style. Eddington's theory appeared in mature form in 1926 as The Internal Constitution of the Stars, which became an important text for training an entire generation of astrophysicists.
Eddington's work in astrophysics in the late 1920s and the 1930s continued his work in stellar structure, and precipitated further clashes with Jeans and Edward Arthur Milne. An important topic was the extension of his models to take advantage of developments in quantum physics, including the use of degeneracy physics in describing dwarf stars.
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Arthur Eddington
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Dispute with Chandrasekhar on the mass limit of stars
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Dispute with Chandrasekhar on the mass limit of stars
The topic of extension of his models precipitated his dispute with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who was then a student at Cambridge. Chandrasekhar's work presaged the discovery of black holes, which at the time seemed so absurdly non-physical that Eddington refused to believe that Chandrasekhar's purely mathematical derivation had consequences for the real world. Eddington was wrong and his motivation is controversial. Chandrasekhar's narrative of this incident, in which his work is harshly rejected, portrays Eddington as rather cruel and dogmatic. Chandra benefited from his friendship with Eddington. It was Eddington and Milne who put up Chandra's name for the fellowship for the Royal Society which Chandra obtained. An FRS meant he was at the Cambridge high-table with all the luminaries and a very comfortable endowment for research. Eddington's criticism seems to have been based partly on a suspicion that a purely mathematical derivation from relativity theory was not enough to explain the seemingly daunting physical paradoxes that were inherent to degenerate stars, but to have "raised irrelevant objections" in addition, as Thanu Padmanabhan puts it.
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Arthur Eddington
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Relativity
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Relativity
During World War I, Eddington was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, which meant he was the first to receive a series of letters and papers from Willem de Sitter regarding Einstein's theory of general relativity. Eddington was fortunate in being not only one of the few astronomers with the mathematical skills to understand general relativity, but owing to his internationalist and pacifist views inspired by his Quaker religious beliefs, one of the few at the time who was still interested in pursuing a theory developed by a German physicist. He quickly became the chief supporter and expositor of relativity in Britain. He and Astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson organized two expeditions to observe a solar eclipse in 1919 to make the first empirical test of Einstein's theory: the measurement of the deflection of light by the Sun's gravitational field. In fact, Dyson's argument for the indispensability of Eddington's expertise in this test was what prevented Eddington from eventually having to enter military service.
When conscription was introduced in Britain on 2 March 1916, Eddington intended to apply for an exemption as a conscientious objector. Cambridge University authorities instead requested and were granted an exemption on the ground of Eddington's work being of national interest. In 1918, this was appealed against by the Ministry of National Service. Before the appeal tribunal in June, Eddington claimed conscientious objector status, which was not recognized and would have ended his exemption in August 1918. A further two hearings took place in June and July, respectively. Eddington's personal statement at the June hearing about his objection to war based on religious grounds is on record. The Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, supported Eddington at the July hearing with a written statement, emphasising Eddington's essential role in the solar eclipse expedition to Príncipe in May 1919. Eddington made clear his willingness to serve in the Friends' Ambulance Unit, under the jurisdiction of the British Red Cross, or as a harvest labourer. However, the tribunal's decision to grant a further twelve months' exemption from military service was on condition of Eddington continuing his astronomy work, in particular in preparation for the Príncipe expedition. The war ended before the end of his exemption.
260px|thumb|right|One of Eddington's photographs of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, presented in his 1920 paper announcing its success, confirming Einstein's theory that light "bends"
After the war, Eddington travelled to the island of Príncipe off the west coast of Africa to watch the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. During the eclipse, he took pictures of the stars (several stars in the Hyades cluster, including Kappa Tauri of the constellation Taurus) whose line of sight from the Earth happened to be near the Sun's location in the sky at that time of year. This effect is noticeable only during a total solar eclipse when the sky is dark enough to see stars which are normally obscured by the Sun's brightness. According to the theory of general relativity, stars with light rays that passed near the Sun would appear to have been slightly shifted because their light had been curved by its gravitational field. Eddington showed that Newtonian gravitation could be interpreted to predict half the shift predicted by Einstein.
Eddington's observations published the next year allegedly confirmed Einstein's theory, and were hailed at the time as evidence of general relativity over the Newtonian model. The news was reported in newspapers all over the world as a major story. Afterward, Eddington embarked on a campaign to popularize relativity and the expedition as landmarks both in scientific development and international scientific relations.
It has been claimed that Eddington's observations were of poor quality, and he had unjustly discounted simultaneous observations at Sobral, Brazil, which appeared closer to the Newtonian model, but a 1979 re-analysis with modern measuring equipment and contemporary software validated Eddington's results and conclusions. The quality of the 1919 results was indeed poor compared to later observations, but was sufficient to persuade contemporary astronomers. The rejection of the results from the expedition to Brazil was due to a defect in the telescopes used which, again, was completely accepted and well understood by contemporary astronomers.
thumb|The minute book of Cambridge ∇2V Club for the meeting where Eddington presented his observations of the curvature of light around the Sun, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity. They include the line "A general discussion followed. The President remarked that the 83rd meeting was historic".
Throughout this period, Eddington lectured on relativity, and was particularly well known for his ability to explain the concepts in lay terms as well as scientific. He collected many of these into the Mathematical Theory of Relativity in 1923, which Albert Einstein suggested was "the finest presentation of the subject in any language." He was an early advocate of Einstein's general relativity, and an interesting anecdote well illustrates his humour and personal intellectual investment: Ludwik Silberstein, a physicist who thought of himself as an expert on relativity, approached Eddington at the Royal Society's (6 November) 1919 meeting where he had defended Einstein's relativity with his Brazil-Príncipe solar eclipse calculations with some degree of scepticism, and ruefully charged Arthur as one who claimed to be one of three men who actually understood the theory (Silberstein, of course, was including himself and Einstein as the other). When Eddington refrained from replying, he insisted Arthur not be "so shy", whereupon Eddington replied, "Oh, no! I was wondering who the third one might be!"As related by Eddington to Chandrasekhar and quoted in Walter Isaacson "Einstein: His Life and Universe", p. 262
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Arthur Eddington
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Cosmology
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Cosmology
Eddington was also heavily involved with the development of the first generation of general relativistic cosmological models. He had been investigating the instability of the Einstein universe when he learned of both Lemaître's 1927 paper postulating an expanding or contracting universe and Hubble's work on the recession of the spiral nebulae. He felt the cosmological constant must have played the crucial role in the universe's evolution from an Einsteinian steady state to its current expanding state, and most of his cosmological investigations focused on the constant's significance and characteristics. In The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, Eddington interpreted the cosmological constant to mean that the universe is "self-gauging".
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Arthur Eddington
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Fundamental theory and the Eddington number
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Fundamental theory and the Eddington number
During the 1920s until his death, Eddington increasingly concentrated on what he called "fundamental theory" which was intended to be a unification of quantum theory, relativity, cosmology, and gravitation. At first he progressed along "traditional" lines, but turned increasingly to an almost numerological analysis of the dimensionless ratios of fundamental constants.
His basic approach was to combine several fundamental constants in order to produce a dimensionless number. In many cases these would result in numbers close to 1040, its square, or its square root. He was convinced that the mass of the proton and the charge of the electron were a "natural and complete specification for constructing a Universe" and that their values were not accidental. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, Paul Dirac, also pursued this line of investigation, which has become known as the Dirac large numbers hypothesis.
A somewhat damaging statement in his defence of these concepts involved the fine-structure constant, α. At the time it was measured to be very close to 1/136, and he argued that the value should in fact be exactly 1/136 for epistemological reasons. Later measurements placed the value much closer to 1/137, at which point he switched his line of reasoning to argue that one more should be added to the degrees of freedom, so that the value should in fact be exactly 1/137, the Eddington number. Wags at the time started calling him "Arthur Adding-one". This change of stance detracted from Eddington's credibility in the physics community. The current CODATA value is 1/
Eddington believed he had identified an algebraic basis for fundamental physics, which he termed "E-numbers" (representing a certain group – a Clifford algebra). These in effect incorporated spacetime into a higher-dimensional structure. While his theory has long been neglected by the general physics community, similar algebraic notions underlie many modern attempts at a grand unified theory. Moreover, Eddington's emphasis on the values of the fundamental constants, and specifically upon dimensionless numbers derived from them, is nowadays a central concern of physics. In particular, he predicted a number of hydrogen atoms in the Universe ≈ , or equivalently the half of the total number of particles protons + electrons. He did not complete this line of research before his death in 1944; his book Fundamental Theory was published posthumously in 1948.
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Arthur Eddington
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Eddington number for cycling
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Eddington number for cycling
Eddington is credited with devising a measure of a cyclist's long-distance riding achievements. The Eddington number in the context of cycling is defined as the maximum number E such that the cyclist has cycled at least E miles on at least E days.
For example, an Eddington number of 70 would imply that the cyclist has cycled at least 70 miles in a day on at least 70 occasions. Achieving a high Eddington number is difficult, since moving from, say, 70 to 75 will (probably) require more than five new long-distance rides, since any rides shorter than 75 miles will no longer be included in the reckoning. Eddington's own life-time E-number was 84.
The Eddington number for cycling is analogous to the h-index that quantifies both the actual scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist.
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Arthur Eddington
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Philosophy
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Philosophy
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Arthur Eddington
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Idealism
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Idealism
Eddington wrote in his book The Nature of the Physical World that "The stuff of the world is mind-stuff."
The idealist conclusion was not integral to his epistemology but was based on two main arguments.
The first derives directly from current physical theory. Briefly, mechanical theories of the ether and of the behaviour of fundamental particles have been discarded in both relativity and quantum physics. From this, Eddington inferred that a materialistic metaphysics was outmoded and that, in consequence, since the disjunction of materialism or idealism are assumed to be exhaustive, an idealistic metaphysics is required. The second, and more interesting argument, was based on Eddington's epistemology, and may be regarded as consisting of two parts. First, all we know of the objective world is its structure, and the structure of the objective world is precisely mirrored in our own consciousness. We therefore have no reason to doubt that the objective world too is "mind-stuff". Dualistic metaphysics, then, cannot be evidentially supported.
But, second, not only can we not know that the objective world is nonmentalistic, we also cannot intelligibly suppose that it could be material. To conceive of a dualism entails attributing material properties to the objective world. However, this presupposes that we could observe that the objective world has material properties. But this is absurd, for whatever is observed must ultimately be the content of our own consciousness, and consequently, nonmaterial.
Eddington believed that physics cannot explain consciousness - "light waves are propagated from the table to the eye; chemical changes occur in the retina; propagation of some kind occurs in the optic nerves; atomic changes follow in the brain. Just where the final leap into consciousness occurs is not clear. We do not know the last stage of the message in the physical world before it became a sensation in consciousness".
Ian Barbour, in his book Issues in Science and Religion (1966), p. 133, cites Eddington's The Nature of the Physical World (1928) for a text that argues the Heisenberg uncertainty principle provides a scientific basis for "the defense of the idea of human freedom" and his Science and the Unseen World (1929) for support of philosophical idealism, "the thesis that reality is basically mental".
Charles De Koninck points out that Eddington believed in objective reality existing apart from our minds, but was using the phrase "mind-stuff" to highlight the inherent intelligibility of the world: that our minds and the physical world are made of the same "stuff" and that our minds are the inescapable connection to the world. As De Koninck quotes Eddington,
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Arthur Eddington
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Science
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Science
Against Albert Einstein and others who advocated determinism, indeterminism—championed by Eddington—says that a physical object has an ontologically undetermined component that is not due to the epistemological limitations of physicists' understanding. The uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, then, would not necessarily be due to hidden variables but to an indeterminism in nature itself. Eddington proclaimed "It is a consequence of the advent of the quantum theory that physics is no longer pledged to a scheme of deterministic law".
Eddington agreed with the tenet of logical positivism that "the meaning of a scientific statement is to be ascertained by reference to the steps which would be taken to verify it".
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Arthur Eddington
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Popular and philosophical writings
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Popular and philosophical writings
Eddington wrote a parody of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, recounting his 1919 solar eclipse experiment. It contained the following quatrain:
In addition to his textbook The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, during the 1920s and 30s, Eddington gave numerous lectures, interviews, and radio broadcasts on relativity, and later, quantum mechanics. Many of these were gathered into books, including The Nature of the Physical World and New Pathways in Science. His use of literary allusions and humour helped make these difficult subjects more accessible. One familiar image drawn by Eddington consisted of his "two tables",Crane, T., and Mellor, H., There is No Question of Physicalism, Mind, volume 99, No. 394 (April 1990), p. 189, accessed on 7 February 2025 which represent a paradox concerned with what really exists: one table is the familiar and commonplace one, with properties of extension, colour, and permanence, it is "substantial" in the sense that it is constituted of "substance"; the other is his 'scientific' one, nothing but myriad minute particles in empty space: the table which "modern physics has by delicate test and remorseless logic assured me . . . is the only one which is really there ... wherever 'there' may be." He began the lectures where he discussed this paradox in 1927 with an allusion to these two tables: The second table is mostly emptiness, with numerous electric charges moving around at great speed, and this table is not "substantial" in any way. Eddington portrays the two tables as a recent innovation: physicists "used to borrow the raw material of [their] world from the familiar world", but for the new concepts, such as the electron, quantum or potential, there is no "familiar counterpart to these things" in "the world of commonplace experience".Arthur Eddington (1928), "The Nature of the Physical World": Preface and Introduction (from Eddington’s Gifford Lectures, given in Edinburgh, January-March 1927): Eddington’s two tables, updated in March 2006, accessed on 19 February 2025
Eddington's books and lectures were immensely popular with the public, not only because of his clear exposition, but also for his willingness to discuss the philosophical and religious implications of the new physics. He argued for a deeply rooted philosophical harmony between scientific investigation and religious mysticism, and also that the positivist nature of relativity and quantum physics provided new room for personal religious experience and free will. Unlike many other spiritual scientists, he rejected the idea that science could provide proof of religious propositions.
His popular writings made him a household name in Great Britain between the world wars.
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Arthur Eddington
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Death
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Death
Eddington died of cancer in the Evelyn Nursing Home, Cambridge, on 22 November 1944. He was unmarried. His body was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium (Cambridgeshire) on 27 November 1944; the cremated remains were buried in the grave of his mother in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge.
Cambridge University's North West Cambridge development has been named Eddington in his honour.
Eddington was played by David Tennant in the television film Einstein and Eddington, with Einstein played by Andy Serkis. The film was notable for its groundbreaking portrayal of Eddington as a somewhat repressed gay man. It was first broadcast in 2008.
The actor Paul Eddington was a relative, mentioning in his autobiography (in light of his own weakness in mathematics) "what I then felt to be the misfortune" of being related to "one of the foremost physicists in the world".Quakers and the Arts: "Plain and Fancy"- An Anglo-American Perspective, David Sox, Sessions Book Trust, 2000, p. 65 Paul's father Albert and Sir Arthur were second cousins, both great-grandsons of William Eddington (1755–1806).
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Arthur Eddington
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Honours
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Honours
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Arthur Eddington
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Awards and honors
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Awards and honors
Smith's Prize (1907)
International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1922)
Bruce Medal of Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1924)
Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1924)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1924)
International Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1925)
Foreign membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1926)
Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) (1928)
Royal Medal of the Royal Society (1928)
Knighthood (1930)
International Member of the American Philosophical Society (1931)
Order of Merit (1938)
Honorary member of the Norwegian Astronomical Society (1939)
Hon. Freeman of Kendal, 1930Who's who entry for A.S. Eddington.
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Arthur Eddington
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Named after him
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Named after him
Lunar crater Eddington
asteroid 2761 Eddington
Royal Astronomical Society's Eddington Medal
Eddington mission, now cancelled
Eddington Tower, halls of residence at the University of Essex
Eddington Astronomical Society, an amateur society based in his hometown of Kendal
Eddington, a house (group of students, used for in-school sports matches) of Kirkbie Kendal School
Eddington, new suburb of North West Cambridge, opened in 2017
Eddington Community Interest Company (CIC), 2003. A Community Centre focusing on Climate Information and projects, including a Waste Food Community Café and Larder, in partnership with SLACC (South Lakes Action on Climate Change), converting the former United Reform Church in Kendal
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Arthur Eddington
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Service
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Service
Gave the Swarthmore Lecture in 1929
Chairman of the National Peace Council 1941–1943
President of the International Astronomical Union; of the Physical Society, 1930–32; of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1921–23
Romanes Lecturer, 1922
Gifford Lecturer, 1927
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Arthur Eddington
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In popular culture
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In popular culture
Eddington is a central figure in the short story "The Mathematician's Nightmare: The Vision of Professor Squarepunt" by Bertrand Russell, a work featured in The Mathematical Magpie by Clifton Fadiman.
He was portrayed by David Tennant in the television film Einstein and Eddington, a co-production of the BBC and HBO, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Saturday, 22 November 2008, on BBC2.
His thoughts on humour and religious experience were quoted in the adventure game The Witness, a production of the Thelka, Inc., released on 26 January 2016.
Time placed him on the cover on 16 April 1934.
The song “In Transit”, from the 2023 album Signs Of Life by Neil Gaiman and Fourplay String Quartet was written in memory of him.
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Arthur Eddington
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Publications
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Publications
1914. Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe. London: Macmillan.
1918. Report on the relativity theory of gravitation. London, Fleetway Press, Ltd.
1920. Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory. Cambridge University Press.
1922. The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought
1923. 1952. The Mathematical Theory of Relativity. Cambridge University Press.
1925. The Domain of Physical Science. 2005 reprint:
1926. Stars and Atoms. Oxford: British Association.
1926. The Internal Constitution of Stars. Cambridge University Press.
1928. The Nature of the Physical World. MacMillan. 1935 replica edition: , University of Michigan 1981 edition: (1926–27 Gifford lectures)
1929. Science and the Unseen World. US Macmillan, UK Allen & Unwin. 1980 Reprint Arden Library . 2004 US reprint – Whitefish, Montana : Kessinger Publications: . 2007 UK reprint London, Allen & Unwin (Swarthmore Lecture), with a new foreword by George Ellis.
1930. Why I Believe in God: Science and Religion, as a Scientist Sees It. Arrow/scrollable preview.
1933. The Expanding Universe: Astronomy's 'Great Debate', 1900–1931. Cambridge University Press.
1935. New Pathways in Science. Cambridge University Press.
1936. Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons. Cambridge Univ. Press.
1939. Philosophy of Physical Science. Cambridge University Press. (1938 Tarner lectures at Cambridge)
1946. Fundamental Theory. Cambridge University Press.
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Arthur Eddington
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See also
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See also
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Arthur Eddington
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Astronomy
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Astronomy
Chandrasekhar limit
Eddington luminosity (also called the Eddington limit)
Gravitational lens
Outline of astronomy
Stellar nucleosynthesis
Timeline of stellar astronomy
List of astronomers
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Arthur Eddington
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Science
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Science
Arrow of time
Classical unified field theories
Degenerate matter
Dimensionless physical constant
Dirac large numbers hypothesis (also called the Eddington–Dirac number)
Eddington number
Introduction to quantum mechanics
Luminiferous aether
Parameterized post-Newtonian formalism
Special relativity
Theory of everything (also called "final theory" or "ultimate theory")
Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
List of experiments
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Arthur Eddington
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People
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People
List of science and religion scholars
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Arthur Eddington
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Other
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Other
Infinite monkey theorem
Numerology
Ontic structural realism"Structural Realism": entry by James Ladyman in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Arthur Eddington
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References
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References
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Arthur Eddington
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Further reading
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Further reading
Durham, Ian T., "Eddington & Uncertainty". Physics in Perspective (September – December). Arxiv, History of Physics
Lecchini, Stefano, "How Dwarfs Became Giants. The Discovery of the Mass–Luminosity Relation" Bern Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, pp. 224. (2007)
Stanley, Matthew. "An Expedition to Heal the Wounds of War: The 1919 Eclipse Expedition and Eddington as Quaker Adventurer." Isis 94 (2003): 57–89.
Stanley, Matthew. "So Simple a Thing as a Star: Jeans, Eddington, and the Growth of Astrophysical Phenomenology" in British Journal for the History of Science, 2007, 40: 53–82.
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Arthur Eddington
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External links
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External links
Trinity College Chapel
Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944) . University of St Andrews, Scotland.
Quotations by Arthur Eddington
Arthur Stanley Eddington The Bruce Medalists.
Russell, Henry Norris, "Review of The Internal Constitution of the Stars by A.S. Eddington". Ap.J. 67, 83 (1928).
Experiments of Sobral and Príncipe repeated in the space project in proceeding in fórum astronomical.
Biography and bibliography of Bruce medalists: Arthur Stanley Eddington
Eddington books: The Nature of the Physical World, The Philosophy of Physical Science, Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons, and Fundamental Theory
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Arthur Eddington
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Obituaries
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Obituaries
Obituary 1 by Henry Norris Russell, Astrophysical Journal 101 (1943–46) 133
Obituary 2 by A. Vibert Douglas, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 39 (1943–46) 1
Obituary 3 by Harold Spencer Jones and E. T. Whittaker, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 105 (1943–46) 68
Obituary 4 by Herbert Dingle, The Observatory 66 (1943–46) 1
The Times, Thursday, 23 November 1944; pg. 7; Issue 49998; col D: Obituary (unsigned) – Image of cutting available at
Category:1882 births
Category:1944 deaths
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester
Category:British anti–World War I activists
Category:British astrophysicists
Category:British conscientious objectors
Category:British Christian pacifists
Category:Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)
Category:Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Category:British cosmologists
Category:British Quakers
Category:20th-century British astronomers
Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Members of the Order of Merit
Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:People from Kendal
Category:Presidents of the Physical Society
Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:Recipients of the Bruce Medal
Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:British relativity theorists
Category:Royal Medal winners
Category:Senior Wranglers
Category:20th-century British physicists
Category:Plumian Professors of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy
Category:Presidents of the International Astronomical Union
Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society
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Arthur Eddington
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Table of Content
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short description, Early years, Astronomy, Dispute with Chandrasekhar on the mass limit of stars, Relativity, Cosmology, Fundamental theory and the Eddington number, Eddington number for cycling, Philosophy, Idealism, Science, Popular and philosophical writings, Death, Honours, Awards and honors, Named after him, Service, In popular culture, Publications, See also, Astronomy, Science, People, Other, References, Further reading, External links, Obituaries
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Apple II (original)
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Short description
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thumb|240px|An Apple II computer with an external modem
The Apple II (stylized as ) is a personal computer released by Apple Inc. in June 1977. It was one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputer products and is widely regarded as one of the most important personal computers of all time due to its role in popularizing home computing and influencing later software development.
The Apple II was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak. The system is based around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor. Jerry Manock designed the foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs was not involved in the design of the computer. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists.
thumb|406x406px|The three computers that Byte magazine referred to as the "1977 Trinity" of home computing: Commodore PET 2001, Apple II, and TRS-80 Model I
Byte magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors.
The Apple II was the first in a series of computers collectively referred to by the Apple II name. It was followed by the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIc Plus, and the 16-bit Apple IIGS—all of which remained compatible. Production of the last available model, the Apple IIe, ceased in November 1993.
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Apple II (original)
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History
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History
By 1976, Steve Jobs had convinced product designer Jerry Manock (who had formerly worked at Hewlett Packard designing calculators) to create the "shell" for the Apple II—a smooth case inspired by kitchen appliances that concealed the internal mechanics. The earliest Apple II computers were assembled in Silicon Valley and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore. The first computers went on sale on June 10, 1977 June 10, 1977 was a Friday. with an MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz ( of the NTSC color subcarrier), two game paddles (bundled until 1980, when they were found to violate FCC regulations), 4 KiB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of monochrome, uppercase-only text on the screen (the original character set matches ASCII characters 20h to 5Fh), with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a video monitor or on a regular TV set (by way of a separate RF modulator).
The original retail price of the computer with 4 KiB of RAM was and with the maximum 48 KiB of RAM, it was 1977 Apple II price list A-VIDD Electronics Co., 1977 Long Beach, CA. To reflect the computer's color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing has rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. Perhaps most significantly, the Apple II was a catalyst for personal computers across many industries; it opened the doors to software marketed at consumers.
Certain aspects of the system's design were influenced by Atari, Inc.'s arcade video game Breakout (1976), which was designed by Wozniak, who said: "A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now".Connick, Jack: "...And Then There Was Apple". Call-A.P.P.L.E. Oct 1986: 24. This included his design of color graphics circuitry, the addition of game paddle support and sound, and graphics commands in Integer BASIC, with which he wrote Brick Out, a software clone of his own hardware game. Wozniak said in 1984: "Basically, all the game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with—Breakout—at the Homebrew Computer Club. It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout—totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world."
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Apple II (original)
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Overview
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Overview
In the May 1977 issue of Byte, Steve Wozniak published a detailed description of his design; the article began, "To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use, and inexpensive."
The Apple II used peculiar engineering shortcuts to save hardware and reduce costs, such as:
Taking advantage of the way the 6502 processor accesses memory: it occurs only on alternate phases of the clock cycle; video generation circuitry memory access on the otherwise unused phase avoids memory contention issues and interruptions of the video stream;
This arrangement simultaneously eliminated the need for a separate refresh circuit for DRAM chips, as video transfer accessed each row of dynamic memory within the timeout period. In addition, it did not require separate RAM chips for video RAM, while the PET and TRS-80 had SRAM chips for video;
Apart from the 6502 CPU and a few support chips, the vast majority of the semiconductors used were 74LS low-power Schottky chips;
Rather than use a complex analog-to-digital circuit to read the outputs of the game controller, Wozniak used a simple timer circuit, built around a quad 555 timer IC called a 558, whose period is proportional to the resistance of the game controller, and he used a software loop to measure the timers;
A single 14.31818 MHz master oscillator (fM) was divided by various ratios to produce all other required frequencies, including microprocessor clock signals (fM/14), video transfer counters, and color-burst samples (fM/4). A solderable jumper on the main board allowed to switch between European 50 Hz and USA 60 Hz video.
The text and graphics screens have a complex arrangement. For instance, the scanlines were not stored in sequential areas of memory. This complexity was reportedly due to Wozniak's realization that the method would allow for the refresh of dynamic RAM as a side effect (as described above). This method had no cost overhead to have software calculate or look up the address of the required scanline and avoided the need for significant extra hardware. Similarly, in high-resolution graphics mode, color is determined by pixel position and thus can be implemented in software, saving Wozniak the chips needed to convert bit patterns to colors. This also allowed the ability to draw text with subpixel rendering, since orange and blue pixels appear half a pixel-width farther to the right on the screen than green and purple pixels.
The Apple II at first used data cassette storage, like most other microcomputers of the time. In 1978, the company introduced an external -inch floppy disk drive, called Disk II (stylized as Disk ][), attached through a controller card that plugs into one of the computer's expansion slots (usually slot 6). The Disk II interface, created by Wozniak, is regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its economy of electronic components.
The approach taken in the Disk II controller is typical of Wozniak's designs. With a few small-scale logic chips and a cheap PROM (programmable read-only memory), he created a functional floppy disk interface at a fraction of the component cost of standard circuit configurations.
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Apple II (original)
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Case design
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Case design
The first production Apple II computers had hand-molded cases; these had visible bubbles and other lumps in them from the imperfect plastic molding process, which was soon switched to machine molding. In addition, the initial case design had no vent openings, causing high heat buildup from the printed circuit board (PCB) and resulting in the plastic softening and sagging. Apple added vent holes to the case within three months of production; customers with the original case could have them replaced at no charge.
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Apple II (original)
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PCB revisions
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PCB revisions
thumb|left|An Apple II PCB. The white rectangle outline near the middle surrounds the three RAM banks, here all loaded with 16kx1 DRAMs.
The Apple II's printed circuit board (PCB) underwent several revisions, as Steve Wozniak made modifications to it. The earliest version was known as Revision 0, and the first 6,000 units shipped used it. Later revisions added a "color killer" circuit to prevent color fringing when the computer was in text mode, as well as modifications to improve the reliability of cassette I/O. Revision 0 Apple IIs powered up in an undefined mode and had garbage on-screen, requiring the user to press Reset. This was eliminated in later board revisions. Revision 0 Apple IIs could display only four colors in hi-res mode, but Wozniak was able to increase this to six hi-res colors on later board revisions. (Technically it was eight, but only six were visible.)
Apple II PCBs have three RAM banks for a total of 24 RAM chips. Original Apple IIs had jumper switches to adjust RAM size, and RAM configurations could be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36, or 48 KiB. The three smallest memory configurations used 4kx1 DRAMs, with larger ones using 16kx1 DRAMs, or mix of 4-kilobyte and 16-kilobyte banks (the chips in any one bank have to be the same size). The early Apple II+ models retained this feature, but after a drop in DRAM prices, Apple redesigned the circuit boards without the jumpers, so that only 16kx1 chips were supported. A few months later, they started shipping all machines with a full 48 KiB complement of DRAM.
Unlike most machines, all integrated circuits on the Apple II PCB were socketed; this cost more to manufacture and created the possibility of loose chips causing a system malfunction, but it was considered preferable to make servicing and replacement of bad chips easier.
The Apple II PCB lacks any means of generating an interrupt request, although expansion cards may generate one. Program code had to stop everything to perform any I/O task; like many of the computer's other idiosyncrasies, this was due to cost reasons and Steve Wozniak assuming interrupts were not needed for gaming or using the computer as a teaching tool.
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Apple II (original)
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Display and graphics
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Display and graphics
Color on the Apple II series uses a quirk of the NTSC television signal standard, which made color display relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. The original NTSC television signal specification was black and white. Color was added later by adding a 3.58-megahertz subcarrier signal that was partially ignored by black-and-white TV sets. Color is encoded based on the phase of this signal in relation to a reference color burst signal. The result is that the position, size, and intensity of a series of pulses define color information. These pulses can translate into pixels on the computer screen, with the possibility of exploiting composite artifact colors.
The Apple II display provides two pixels per subcarrier cycle. When the color burst reference signal is turned on and the computer is attached to a color display, it can display green by showing one alternating pattern of pixels, magenta with an opposite pattern of alternating pixels, and white by placing two pixels next to each other. Blue and orange are available by tweaking the pixel offset by half a pixel-width in relation to the color-burst signal. The high-resolution display offers more colors by compressing more (and narrower) pixels into each subcarrier cycle.
The coarse, low-resolution graphics display mode works differently, as it can output a pattern of dots per pixel to offer more color options. These patterns are stored in the character generator ROM, and replace the text character bit patterns when the computer is switched to low-res graphics mode. The text mode and low-res graphics mode use the same memory region and the same circuitry is used for both.
A single HGR page occupied 8 KiB of RAM; in practice this meant that the user had to have at least 12 KiB of total RAM to use HGR mode and 20 KiB to use two pages. Early Apple II games from the 1977–79 period often ran only in text or low-resolution mode in order to support users with small memory configurations; HGR not being near universally supported by games until 1980.
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Apple II (original)
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Sound
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Sound
Rather than a dedicated sound-synthesis chip, the Apple II contains a toggle circuit that can only emit a click through a built-in speaker or a line-out jack. More complex sounds, such as music or audio samples, are generated by software manually toggling the speaker at an appropriate frequency. This technique requires careful and precise timing, rendering it difficult to display moving graphics while sound is playing. Third party expansion cards were later released that addressed this problem.
A similar technique is used for cassette storage: cassette output works the same as the speaker, and input uses a simple zero-crossing detector as a 1-bit audio digitizer. Routines in machine ROM encode and decode data in frequency-shift keying for the cassette.
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Apple II (original)
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Programming languages
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Programming languages
Initially, the Apple II was shipped with Integer BASIC encoded in the motherboard ROM chips. Written by Wozniak, the interpreter enabled users to write software applications without needing to purchase additional development utilities. Written with game programmers and hobbyists in mind, the language only supported the encoding of numbers in 16-bit integer format. Since it only supported integers between -32768 and +32767 (signed 16-bit integer), it was less suitable to business software, and Apple soon received complaints from customers. Because Steve Wozniak was busy developing the Disk II hardware, he did not have time to modify Integer BASIC for floating point support. Apple instead licensed Microsoft's 6502 BASIC to create Applesoft BASIC.
Disk users normally purchased a so-called Language Card, which had Applesoft in ROM, and was located below the Integer BASIC ROM in system memory. The user could switch between either BASIC by typing or in BASIC prompt. Apple also offered a different version of Applesoft for cassette users, which occupied low memory, and was started by using the command in Integer BASIC.
As shipped, Apple II incorporated a machine code monitor with commands for displaying and altering the computer's RAM, either one byte at a time, or in blocks of 256 bytes at once. This enabled programmers to write and debug machine code programs without further development software. The computer powers on into the monitor ROM, displaying a prompt. From there, enters BASIC, or a machine language program can be loaded from cassette. Disk software can be booted with followed by , referring to Slot 6 which normally contained the Disk II controller.
A 6502 assembler was soon offered on disk, and later the UCSD compiler and operating system for the Pascal language were made available. The Pascal system requires a 16 KiB RAM card to be installed in the language card position (expansion slot 0) in addition to the full 48 KiB of motherboard memory.
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Apple II (original)
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Manual
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Manual
The first 1,000 or so Apple IIs shipped in 1977 with a 68-page mimeographed "Apple II Mini Manual", hand-bound with brass paper fasteners. This was the basis for the Apple II Reference Manual, which became known as the Red Book for its red cover, published in January 1978. All existing customers who sent in their warranty cards were sent free copies of the Red Book. The Apple II Reference Manual contained the complete schematic of the entire computer's circuitry, and a complete source listing of the "Monitor" ROM firmware that served as the machine's BIOS.
An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs in 1980 with the inscription "Julian, your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world." sold at auction for $787,484 in 2021.
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Apple II (original)
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Operating system
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Operating system
The original Apple II came with an 8 KiB ROM containing a BASIC variant called Integer BASIC as well as a resident monitor called the Apple System Monitor. Initially, only cassette tape was available for storage, which was considered too slow and unreliable for business use. In late 1977, Apple began to develop the Disk II floppy disk drive and required an operating system to utilize it. The existing standard at the time was CP/M, but due to incompatibility with the 6502 processor and a perceived clunkiness, Apple contracted Shepardson Microsystems for $13,000 to write Apple DOS. At Shepardson, Paul Laughton developed the software in just 35 days, a remarkably short deadline, even for the time. The Disk II and Apple DOS were released in late 1978. The final and most popular version of this software was Apple DOS 3.3.
Apple DOS was superseded by ProDOS, which supported a hierarchical filesystem and larger storage devices. With an optional third-party Z80-based expansion card, the Apple II could boot into the CP/M operating system and run WordStar, dBase II, and other CP/M software.
Apple released Applesoft BASIC in 1977, a more advanced variant of the language which users could run instead of Integer BASIC for more capabilities, such as the ability to use floating point numbers.
Some commercial Apple II software came on self-booting disks and did not use standard DOS disk formats. This discouraged the copying or modifying of the software on the disks, and improved loading speed.
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Apple II (original)
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Third-party devices and applications
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Third-party devices and applications
When the Apple II initially shipped in June 1977, no expansion cards were available for the slots. This meant that the user did not have any way of connecting a modem or a printer. One popular hack involved connecting a teletype machine to the cassette output.
Wozniak's open-architecture design and Apple II's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices, including peripheral cards, such as serial controllers, display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, networking components, and real-time clocks. There were plug-in expansion cards—such as the Z-80 SoftCard—that permitted Apple II to use the Z80 processor and run programs for the CP/M operating system, including the dBase II database and the WordStar word processor. The Z80 card also allowed the connection to a modem, and thereby to any networks that a user might have access to. In the early days, such networks were scarce. But they expanded significantly with the development of bulletin board systems in later years. There was also a third-party 6809 card that allowed OS-9 Level One to be run. Third-party sound cards greatly improved audio capabilities, allowing simple music synthesis and text-to-speech functions. Apple II accelerator cards doubled or quadrupled the computer's speed.
Early Apple IIs were often sold with a Sup'R'Mod, which allowed the composite video signal to be viewed in a television.
The Soviet Union radio-electronics industry designed Apple II-compatible computer Agat. Roughly 12,000 Agat 7 and 9 models were produced and they were widely used in Soviet schools. Agat 9 computers could run "Apple II" compatibility and native modes. "Apple II" mode allowed to run a wider variety of (presumably pirated) Apple II software, but at the expense of less RAM. Because of that Soviet developers preferred native mode over "Apple II" compatibility mode.
In 1978, Bob Bishop of Apple Computer, Inc. programmed 9 Apple II computers to run the gameboard on the TV game show Tic-Tac-Dough;. Each Apple was responsible for displaying various contents for each box of the gameboard (category, X, O, bonus game numbers and amounts, TIC, TAC or Dragon, as well displaying custom messages and an active screensaver), and in turn controlled by an Altair 8800 system. It was the first game show to use computerized graphics.
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Apple II (original)
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Reception
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Reception
thumb|Advertisement for Apple II (1977)
Jesse Adams Stein wrote, "As the first company to release a 'consumer appliance' micro-computer, Apple Computer offers us a clear view of this shift from a machine to an appliance." But the company also had "to negotiate the attitudes of its potential buyers, bearing in mind social anxieties about the uptake of new technologies in multiple contexts. The office, the home and the 'office-in-the-home' were implicated in these changing spheres of gender stereotypes and technological development." After seeing a crude, wire-wrapped prototype demonstrated by Wozniak and Steve Jobs in November 1976, Byte predicted in April 1977, that the Apple II "may be the first product to fully qualify as the 'appliance computer' ... a completed system which is purchased off the retail shelf, taken home, plugged in and used". The computer's color graphics capability especially impressed the magazine. The magazine published a favorable review of the computer in March 1978, concluding: "For the user that wants color graphics, the Apple II is the only practical choice available in the 'appliance' computer class."
Personal Computer World in August 1978 also cited the color capability as a strength, stating that "the prime reason that anyone buys an Apple II must surely be for the colour graphics". While mentioning the "oddity" of the artifact colors that produced output "that is not always what one wishes to do", it noted that "no-one has colour graphics like this at this sort of price". The magazine praised the sophisticated monitor software, user expandability, and comprehensive documentation. The author concluded that "the Apple II is a very promising machine" which "would be even more of a temptation were its price slightly lower ... for the moment, colour is an Apple II".
Although it sold well from the launch, the initial market was to hobbyists and computer enthusiasts. Sales expanded exponentially into the business and professional market, when the spreadsheet program VisiCalc was launched in mid-1979. VisiCalc is credited as the defining killer app in the microcomputer industry.
By the end of 1977 Apple had sales of for the fiscal year, which included sales of the Apple I. This put Apple clearly behind the others of the "holy trinity" of the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, even though the TRS-80 was launched last of the three. However, during the first five years of operations, revenues doubled about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980, annual sales grew from to . During this period the sole products of the company were the Apple II and its peripherals, accessories, and software.
In 2006, PC World wrote that the Apple II was the greatest PC of all time.
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Apple II (original)
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References
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References
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Apple II (original)
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External links
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External links
Additional documentation in Bitsavers PDF Document archive
Apple II on Old-computers.com
Online Apple II Resource
Apple2History.org
How the Apple ][ Works! – on YouTube by the 8-Bit Guy
Category:Apple II computers
Category:Computer-related introductions in 1977
Category:6502-based home computers
Category:8-bit computers
Category:Products and services discontinued in 1979
Category:1977 establishments in the United States
Category:1979 disestablishments in the United States
ca:Apple II
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Apple II (original)
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Table of Content
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Short description, History, Overview, Case design, PCB revisions, Display and graphics, Sound, Programming languages, Manual, Operating system, Third-party devices and applications, Reception, References, External links
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April 3
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pp-move
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