Digital SAT Reading and Writing Practice Question #731

In 1919, British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington led an expedition to measure the deflection of starlight by the Sun's gravity during a solar eclipse, a test proposed by Albert Einstein to confirm his theory of General Relativity. Eddington announced that his measurements perfectly matched Einstein’s predictions, catapulting Einstein to global fame. However, modern historical analyses of Eddington’s original photographic plates reveal a more complex story. Eddington had discarded several plates that exhibited data aligning more closely with older Newtonian physics, citing 'systematic errors' such as temperature fluctuations in the telescope lenses. While those errors were physically plausible, critics point out that Eddington did not apply the same rigorous exclusion criteria to plates that confirmed Einstein’s theory, even when those plates were exposed under similar environmental conditions. Which statement is most strongly supported by the passage?