[fastball]

Your claim is not substantiated by the source, while mine actually is.

Without Einstein's E = mc^2, Arthur Eddington would not have realized that the fusing of nuclei could power the sun. In other words, he realized that fusing two atoms would release a lot of energy thanks to terrestrial research, and then hypothesized that this is what must power the sun. He did not come to this theory from staring at the sun through a telescope. Astronomy clearly did not lead to fusion - atomic theory did, which did not come from astronomy.

And neither did Einstein formulate E = mc^2 because he was an avid astronomer who wanted to understand the sun.

I am well aware this happened more than 100 years ago, not sure why you would be under the impression that I thought otherwise or needed to hear that for some reason.