A Short History of the Lick Observatory

A Short History of the Lick Observatory PDF Author: Ferdinand John Neubauer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description

A Short History of the Lick Observatory

A Short History of the Lick Observatory PDF Author: Ferdinand John Neubauer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description


Eye on the Sky

Eye on the Sky PDF Author: Donald E. Osterbrock
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520268695
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
The world's first mountain-top observatory and America's first big-science research center, Lick Observatory exemplifies astronomy's dramatic development in the past century. A dedicated Confederate naval officer and his jack-of-all-trades foreman used the bequest of a miserly California eccentric to transform an isolated mountain peak into the world's premier research observatory. Its first staff included a director from West Point and three of the outstanding astronomers of their time. Since its dedication in 1888, Lick Observatory has been the site of many of the most important discoveries in astronomy. Eye on the Sky presents Lick Observatory from the point of view of the people who breathed life into its giant telescopes. Their community was both constant and constantly transformed, shaped by workers famous and unknown who made it their home. The authors also explain in terms anyone can understand the laboratory advances that were adapted to telescopes to make them more powerful, and the conceptual breakthroughs that discoveries at the telescope helped bring about. The men and women who went to the top of Mount Hamilton in search of greater knowledge of the skies helped to change our conception of the universe and our place in it . They were people with personal and political lives as well as scientific careers, and their story illuminates a time and a place where foundations were laid for the discoveries of the next century.

A Short History of Observatories

A Short History of Observatories PDF Author: Marian Card Donnelly
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astronomical observatories
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
The developing relationship between astronomical instruments and the structures that house them is discussed by an art historian who begins her narrative in Galileo's time and moves through the intervening centuries into our own day. "Early observatories were hardly more than observation platforms, built of wood and equipped with shutters or revolving roofs ..." writes Mrs. Donnelly. As telescopes increased in complexity and size, provision for a specially tailored physical setting became necessary. Mrs. Donnelly discusses the structural and artistic logic dictated by the maturing science and shows in textual descriptions and accompanying plates the results of this blending of science and architecture.

A Short History of Astronomy

A Short History of Astronomy PDF Author: Arthur Berry
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
This book provides an overview of the development of astronomy from ancient times to the modern era. The book covers the major discoveries and theories of influential figures like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, as well as post-Newtonian achievements and the study of interstellar space. It also provides insight into the history of astronomy, including detailed discussions of key concepts and major advancements.

The Immortal Fire Within

The Immortal Fire Within PDF Author: William Sheehan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521444897
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
This, the first full-length biography of Edward Emerson Barnard, tells the remarkable tale of endurance and achievement of one of the leading astronomers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Through his career, Barnard scoured the heavens endlessly, leaving an astonishing legacy of observations - of planets, satellites, comets, double stars, bright and dark nebulae, and globular clusters - that make him one of the greatest observers of all time.Beautifully illustrated throughout, this book includes many of Barnard's famous wide-field photographs of comets and the Milky Way. It provides a complete history of Barnard's fascinating life and work, and offers unusual insight into the astronomers he knew and observatories with which he was associated and will be of interest to astronomers and historians of science.

Biographical Memoirs

Biographical Memoirs PDF Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030903938X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 551

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Book Description
Biographic Memoirs: Volume 58 contains short biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Starlight Detectives

Starlight Detectives PDF Author: Alan Hirshfeld
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
ISBN: 1934137790
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Julia Ward Howe Award Finalist NBC News “Top Science and Tech Books of the Year” selection Scientific American/FSG “Favorite Science Books of the Year” selection Nature.com “Top Reads of the Year” selection Kirkus Reviews “Best Books of the Year” selection Discover magazine “Top 5 Summer Read” “A masterful balance of science, history and rich narrative.” —Discover magazine “Hirshfeld tells this climactic discovery of the expanding universe with great verve and sweep, as befits a story whose scope, characters and import leave most fiction far behind.” —Wall Street Journal “Starlight Detectives is just the sort of richly veined book I love to read—full of scientific history and discoveries, peopled by real heroes and rogues, and told with absolute authority. Alan Hirshfeld’s wide, deep knowledge of astronomy arises not only from the most careful scholarship, but also from the years he’s spent at the telescope, posing his own questions to the stars.” —DAVA SOBEL, author of A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos and Longitude In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced the greatest discovery in the history of astronomy since Galileo first turned a telescope to the heavens. The galaxies, previously believed to float serenely in the void, are in fact hurtling apart at an incredible speed: the universe is expanding. This stunning discovery was the culmination of a decades-long arc of scientific and technical advancement. In its shadow lies an untold, yet equally fascinating, backstory whose cast of characters illuminates the gritty, hard-won nature of scientific progress. The path to a broader mode of cosmic observation was blazed by a cadre of nineteenth-century amateur astronomers and inventors, galvanized by the advent of photography, spectral analysis, and innovative technology to create the entirely new field of astrophysics. From William Bond, who turned his home into a functional observatory, to John and Henry Draper, a father and son team who were trailblazers of astrophotography and spectroscopy, to geniuses of invention such as Léon Foucault, and George Hale, who founded the Mount Wilson Observatory, Hirshfeld reveals the incredible stories—and the ambitious dreamers—behind the birth of modern astronomy. Alan Hirshfeld, Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory, is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, and Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes.

Contributions from the Lick Observatory

Contributions from the Lick Observatory PDF Author: Lick Observatory
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description


Parallax

Parallax PDF Author: Alan W. Hirshfeld
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486490939
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This lively and entertaining history of the long struggle to measure the distance to the stars will appeal to general readers as well as to amateur and professional astronomers. Readers will encounter fascinating historical characters, from ancient Greeks to 19th-century scientists. Well illustrated, with contemporary pictures plus extensive notes on further reading. 2002 edition.

The Earthquake Observers

The Earthquake Observers PDF Author: Deborah R. Coen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226111814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Earthquakes have taught us much about our planet's hidden structure and the forces that have shaped it. This book explains how observing networks transformed an instant of panic and confusion into a field for scientific research, turning earthquakes into natural experiments at the nexus of the physical and human sciences.