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Author:   David Aubin ,  Charlotte Bigg ,  H. Otto Sibum
Publisher:   Duke University Press
Imprint:   Duke University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 23.60cm
Weight:   0.816kg
ISBN:  

9780822346289

ISBN 10:   0822346281
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   26 January 2010
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Inactive
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

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

Reviews

This impressive volume is the first to offer a panoramic view of the observatory as site of science, empire, and modernization during its golden age. At the forefront of precision measurement, standardization, number-crunching, and worldwide networking, the nineteenth-century observatory made globalization a reality. --Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin The Heavens on Earth raises the bar for the historiography of astronomy and observatory techniques. The collection stands out from the existing literature in its attention to the broad cultural context of observatory work and techniques; continental Europe in addition to Great Britain and the United States; the connections between the observatory and 'popular' astronomy; and the links between astronomy and concerns such as geodesy, the rating of chronometers, and military science. It is a major contribution to the history of not only astronomy but also nineteenth-century science and its culture. --Robert W. Smith, University of Alberta

Author Information

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.

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