The early days of stellar structure theory

Eddington's Internal Constitution of the Stars remains both a classic and i n parts a tour de force. As a paradigm for a homogeneous star in thermal eq uilibrium, Eddington's 'standard model' is better replaced by Cowling's poi nt-convective model. Jeans ultimately accepted the essence of Eddington's a pproach, unlike Milne, whose lasting contributions were to the theory of st ellar atmospheres. Some of Milne's arguments turn out be relevant not to ma in sequence stars, but to pre-main sequence or to evolved, post-main sequen ce stars. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.