Exactly 300 years ago today, a total solar eclipse graced the skies of northern Europe and Asia, plunging the day into darkness.

For millennia, these rare astronomical events were considered to be divine portents of doom, a warning of ill fortune and civil turmoil to come. But the total eclipse of May 3, 1715 ended up with a very different role in history, thanks to the efforts of brilliant scientists like Edmond Halley, after whom this event—Halley's Eclipse—is now named.

The path of Halley's Eclipse over England. Public Domain

As opposed to perpetuating the superstitions surrounding eclipses, Halley demonstrated how Newtonian physics not only explained them, but made it possible to predict exactly when they would occur, and how long they would last. He used the accuracy of his predictions, and those of other Newtonian advocates, to persuade people that seemingly supernatural events are explicable through science.