John Herschel's Cape Voyage

John Herschel's Cape Voyage

Author: Steven Ruskin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1351925156

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In 1833 John Herschel sailed from London to Cape Town, southern Africa, to undertake (at his own expense) an astronomical exploration of the southern heavens, as well as a terrestrial exploration of the area around Cape Town. After his return to England in 1838, and as a result of his voyage, he was highly esteemed and became Britain's most recognized man of science. In 1847 his southern hemisphere astronomical observations were published as the Cape Results. The main argument of Ruskin's book is that Herschel's voyage and the publication of the Cape Results, in addition to their contemporary scientific importance, were also significant for nineteenth-century culture and politics. In this book it is demonstrated that the reason for Herschel's widespread cultural renown was the popular notion that his voyage to the Cape was a project aligned with the imperial ambitions of the British government. By leaving England for one of its colonies, and pursuing there a significant scientific project, Herschel was seen in the same light as other British men of science (like James Cook and Richard Lander) who had also undertaken voyages of exploration and discovery at the behest of their nation. It is then demonstrated that the production of the Cape Results, in part because of Herschel's status as Britain's scientific figurehead, was a significant political event. Herschel's decision to journey to the Cape for the purpose of surveying the southern heavens was of great significance to almost all of Britain and much of the continent. It is the purpose of this book to make a case for the scientific, cultural, and political significance of Herschel's Cape voyage and astronomical observations, as a means of demonstrating the relationship of scientific practice to broader aspects of imperial culture and politics in the nineteenth century.


The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie

The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie

Author: Joanna Baillie

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 756

ISBN-13: 9780838638163

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Volume two of The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie features her correspondence with Margaret Holford Hodson, Lady Byron, Mary Montgomery, and Anna Jameson. Other letters reveal her respect and admiration for Sir Walter Scott, as well as her connections to American writers and theologians living in the Boston area in the early-to-mid 1800s. The book includes much of the biographical evidence missing in previous portraits of Joanna Baillie but essential for future critical inquiry.


The Cambridge Companion to John Herschel

The Cambridge Companion to John Herschel

Author: Stephen Case

Publisher:

Published: 2024-05-02

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1009237683

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It has been said that being scientific in Victorian England meant to be as much like John Herschel as possible. This volume shows readers what it meant to be John Herschel (1792-1871), one of England's most prominent polymaths. Drawing on his published oeuvre and recent scholarship, as well as an immense amount of surviving archival material and correspondence, these essays present the first ever comprehensive account of Herschel's life, work, and legacy. From mathematics and astronomy, to philosophy and politics, the volume sheds new light on his crucial role in the history of Victorian science and explores a wide array of issues in the history of nineteenth-century culture, philosophy, mathematics, and beyond.


Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters

Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters

Author: Wolfgang Steinicke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-08-19

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1139490109

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Providing the first comprehensive historical study of the New General Catalogue, this book is an important resource to all those interested in the history of modern astronomy and visual deep-sky observing. It covers the people, observatories, instruments and methods involved in nineteenth-century visual deep-sky observing, as well as prominent deep-sky objects.


Power, Money and the People

Power, Money and the People

Author: Anthony M. Orum

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2002-10-16

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1592440770

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Twenty years ago Austin, Texas was a small, unassuming city whose greatest distinctions were being the state capital and the home of the University of Texas. Today Austin is touted in such places as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times as one of the fastest-growing cities in America. Its population shot up from 186,000 in 1960 to more than 700,000 in 1987. It is home to such notable companies as IBM, Motorola, Lockhead, and Tracor, and in 1983 Austin beat out scores of American cities to attract the glamorous high tech research consortium known as MCC.


Making Stars Physical

Making Stars Physical

Author: Stephen Case

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2018-11-03

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 0822986116

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Making Stars Physical offers the first extensive look at the astronomical career of John Herschel, son of William Herschel and one of the leading scientific figures in Britain throughout much of the nineteenth century. Herschel’s astronomical career is usually relegated to a continuation of his father, William’s, sweeps for nebulae. However, as Stephen Case argues, John Herschel was pivotal in establishing the sidereal revolution his father had begun: a shift of attention from the planetary system to the study of nebulous regions in the heavens and speculations on the nature of the Milky Way and the sun’s position within it. Through John Herschel’s astronomical career—in particular his work on constellation reform, double stars, and variable stars—the study of stellar objects became part of mainstream astronomy. He leveraged his mathematical expertise and his position within the scientific community to make sidereal astronomy accessible even to casual observers, allowing amateurs to make useful observations that could contribute to theories on the nature of stars. With this book, Case shows how Herschel’s work made the stars physical and laid the foundations for modern astrophysics.


The Shadow of the Telescope

The Shadow of the Telescope

Author: Gunther Buttman

Publisher: Lutterworth Press

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0718847458

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This first full-length biography of Sir John Herschel tells of a remarkable man who contributed to nearly every branch of astronomy and to half a dozen other sciences as well. The only son of the astronomer Sir William Herschel (founder of stellar astronomy and discoverer of the planet Uranus), he comes vividly to life in descriptions of his personality and his varied achievements. Making admirable use of John Herschel's unpublished correspondence, diaries, and notebooks, the author covers his extensive astronomical observations at Cape Town in South Africa, his pioneering work in photography and in physical optics in Britain, and his unhappy experiences as Master of the Mint - and much more. John Herschel was so attractive and enterprising an individual that his biography will appeal to general readers as well as to professionals - historians of science, astronomers, and scientists in related fields.