Aubin / Bigg / Sibum The Heavens on Earth

Observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8223-9250-7
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 398 Seiten

Reihe: Science and Cultural Theory

A collection exploring the place of the observatory in nineteenth-century science, culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Aubin, David

Bigg, Charlotte

Sibum, H. Otto

Smith, Barbara Herrnstein

Weintraub, E. Roy

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Allgemeines
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Observatory Techniques in Nineteenth-Century Science and Society / David Aubin, Charlotte Bigg, and H. Otto Sibum 1

1. The Astronomical Capital of the World: Pulkovo Observatory in the Russia of Tsar Nicholas I / Simon Werrett 33

2. The Jesuit on the Roof: Observatory Sciences, Metaphysics, and Nation Building / Massimo Mazzotti 58

3. Eclipse Politics in France and Thailand, 1868 / David Aubin 86

4. Keeping the Books at Paramatta Observatory / Simon Schaffer 118

5. Training Seafarers in Astronomy: Methods, Naval Schools, and Naval Observatories in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century France / Guy Boistel 148

6. Astronomy as Military Science: The Case of Sweden, ca. 1800–1850 / Sven Widmalm 174

7. Geodesy and Map Making in France and Algeria: Between Army Officers and Observatory Scientists / Martina Schiavon 199

8. Michelson and the Observatory: Physics and the Astronomical Community in Late-Nineteenth-Century America / Richard Staley 225

9. Even the Tools Will Be Free: Humboldt's Romantic Technologies / John Tresch 253

10. "I thought this might be of interest.": The Observatory as Public Enterprise / Theresa Levitt 285

11. Staging the Heavens: Astrophysics and Popular Astronomy in the Late Nineteenth Century / Charlotte Bigg 305

12. The Berlin Urania, Humboldtian Cosmology, and the Public / Ole Molvig 325

Bibliography 345

About the Contributors 367

Index 369

Über Autor(innen)

David Aubin is Professor of History of Science at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, and a member of the Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu.Charlotte Bigg is a research scientist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Centre Alexandre Koyré, Paris).H. Otto Sibum is Hans Rausing Professor of History of Science and Director of the Office for History of Science at Uppsala University in Sweden.