Victorian Telescope Makers

Victorian Telescope Makers PDF Author: Ian S. Glass
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing (GB)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Victorian Telescope Makers is the story of a highly specialized & unusual business enterprise, that of telescope manufacture. Makers of some of the largest & best known telescopes of the Victorian era, the Grubbs of Dublin placed themselves at the forefront of optical & mechanical engineering in a world where continual innovation & improvement were the keys to success. For 95 years Thomas & Howard Grubb, father & son, supplied astronomical instruments to the world. Through extensive use of their original letters & documents Ian Glass has allowed the Grubbs to speak for themselves. The story recounted is of the development of a small leading-edge technology firm from its beginnings in 1830 as a billiard table manufactory to its eventual position as one of the major telescope makers of the Victorian era. The founder of the firm, Thomas Grubb, was an innovator in the field of telescope making & optical design. One of his earliest instruments was, for several years, the largest telescope in the world. Howard, the son, formalized the business, built a new factory & capitalized on the rapid growth of astrophysics. He in turn obtained the contract for the world's largest refractor, the 27 inch centrepiece of the Royal & Imperial Observatory in Vienna. Together, the story of Thomas & Howard Grubb provides an unique insight into a period of rapid growth & innovation in Victorian science. This book will prove fascinating to all those interested in the history of telescope manufacture & of astronomy as well as to students of the Irish past.

Victorian Telescope Makers

Victorian Telescope Makers PDF Author: Ian S. Glass
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing (GB)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
Victorian Telescope Makers is the story of a highly specialized & unusual business enterprise, that of telescope manufacture. Makers of some of the largest & best known telescopes of the Victorian era, the Grubbs of Dublin placed themselves at the forefront of optical & mechanical engineering in a world where continual innovation & improvement were the keys to success. For 95 years Thomas & Howard Grubb, father & son, supplied astronomical instruments to the world. Through extensive use of their original letters & documents Ian Glass has allowed the Grubbs to speak for themselves. The story recounted is of the development of a small leading-edge technology firm from its beginnings in 1830 as a billiard table manufactory to its eventual position as one of the major telescope makers of the Victorian era. The founder of the firm, Thomas Grubb, was an innovator in the field of telescope making & optical design. One of his earliest instruments was, for several years, the largest telescope in the world. Howard, the son, formalized the business, built a new factory & capitalized on the rapid growth of astrophysics. He in turn obtained the contract for the world's largest refractor, the 27 inch centrepiece of the Royal & Imperial Observatory in Vienna. Together, the story of Thomas & Howard Grubb provides an unique insight into a period of rapid growth & innovation in Victorian science. This book will prove fascinating to all those interested in the history of telescope manufacture & of astronomy as well as to students of the Irish past.

The Optical Munitions Industry in Great Britain, 1888–1923

The Optical Munitions Industry in Great Britain, 1888–1923 PDF Author: Stephen C Sambrook
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317321049
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Running counter to the general decline of technological industries in post-Victorian Britain, optical munitions provides an important, previously overlooked, study into the business of manufacturing.

The Great Melbourne Telescope

The Great Melbourne Telescope PDF Author: Richard Gillespie
Publisher: Museum Victoria
ISBN: 1921833297
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Erected at Melbourne Observatory in 1869, the telescope was the second largest in the world, designed to explore the nature of the nebulae in the southern skies. Richard Gillespie, head of the History and Technology department at the Melbourne museum has written an entertaining account of the telescope’s extraordinary history and tells the story through an amazing cast of characters whose lives intersected with the telescope.

Mathematics in Victorian Britain

Mathematics in Victorian Britain PDF Author: Raymond Flood
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199601399
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
With a foreword by Adam Hart-Davis, this book constitutes perhaps the first general survey of the mathematics of the Victorian period. It charts the institutional development of mathematics as a profession, as well as exploring the numerous innovations made during this time, many of which are still familiar today.

British University Observatories 1772–1939

British University Observatories 1772–1939 PDF Author: Roger Hutchins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351954520
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
British University Observatories fills a gap in the historiography of British astronomy by offering the histories of observatories identified as a group by their shared characteristics. The first full histories of the Oxford and Cambridge observatories are here central to an explanatory history of each of the six that undertook research before World War II - Oxford, Dunsink, Cambridge, Durham, Glasgow and London. Each struggled to evolve in the middle ground between the royal observatories and those of the 'Grand Amateurs' in the nineteenth century. Fundamental issues are how and why astronomy came into the universities, how research was reconciled with teaching, lack of endowment, and response to the challenge of astrophysics. One organizing theme is the central importance of the individual professor-directors in determining the fortunes of these observatories, the community of assistants, and their role in institutional politics sometimes of the murkiest kind, patronage networks and discipline shaping coteries. The use of many primary sources illustrates personal motivations and experience. This book will intrigue anyone interested in the history of astronomy, of telescopes, of scientific institutions, and of the history of universities. The history of each individual observatory can easily be followed from foundation to 1939, or compared to experience elsewhere across the period. Astronomy is competitive and international, and the British experience is contextualised by comparison for the first time to those in Germany, France, Italy and the USA.

Astronomical Spectrographs and Their History

Astronomical Spectrographs and Their History PDF Author: John Hearnshaw
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521882575
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Astronomical spectrographs analyse light emitted by the Sun, stars, galaxies and other objects in the Universe, and have been used in astronomy since the early nineteenth century. This book provides a comprehensive account of spectrographs from an historical perspective, from their theory and development over the last two hundred years, to the recent advances of the early twenty-first century. The author combines the theoretical principles behind astronomical spectrograph design with their historical development. Spectrographs of all types are considered, with prism, grating or grism dispersing elements. Included are Cassegrain, coudé, prime focus, échelle, fibre-fed, ultraviolet, nebular, objective prism, multi-object instruments and those which are ground-based, on rockets and balloons or in space. The book contains several tables listing the most significant instruments, around 900 references, and over 150 images, making it an indispensable reference for professional astronomers, graduate students, advanced amateur astronomers, and historians of science.

Unravelling Starlight

Unravelling Starlight PDF Author: Barbara J. Becker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139497251
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Challenging traditional accounts of the origins of astrophysics, this book presents the first scholarly biography of nineteenth-century English amateur astronomer William Huggins (1824–1910). A pioneer in adapting the spectroscope to new astronomical purposes, William Huggins rose to scientific prominence in London and transformed professional astronomy to become a principal founder of the new science of astrophysics. The author re-examines his life and career, exploring unpublished notebooks, correspondence and research projects to expose the boldness of this scientific entrepreneur. While Sir William Huggins is the main focus of the book, the involvement of Lady Margaret Lindsay Huggins (1848–1915) in her husband's research is examined, where it may have been previously overlooked or obscured. Written in an engaging style, this book has broad appeal and will be valuable to scientists, students and anyone interested in the history of astronomy.

Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy

Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy PDF Author: Neil English
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319977075
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 650

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Book Description
The invention of the telescope at the dawning of the 17th century has revolutionized humanity's understanding of the Universe and our place within it. This book traces the development of the telescope over four centuries, as well as the many personalities who used it to uncover brand-new revelations about the Sun, Moon, planets, stars and distant galaxies. Starting with early observers such as Thomas Harriot, Galileo, Johannes Hevelius, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Robert Hooke and Christian Huygens, the book explores how these early observers arrived at essentially correct ideas concerning the objects they studied. Moving into the 18th and 19th centuries, the author describes the increasing sophistication of telescopes both large and small, and the celebrated figures who used them so productively, including the Herschels, Charles Messier, William Lassell and the Earls of Rosse. Many great discoveries were also made with smaller instruments when placed in the capable hands of the Struve dynasty, F.W. Bessel, Angelo Secchi and S.W Burnham, to name but a few. Nor were all great observers of professional ilk. The book explores the contributions made by the 'clerical astronomers,' William Rutter Dawes, Thomas William Webb, T.E.R Philips and T.H.E.C Espin, as well as the lonely vigils of E.E. Barnard, William F. Denning and Charles Grover. And in the 20th century, the work of Percival Lowell, Leslie Peltier, Eugene M. Antoniadi, Clyde Tombaugh, Walter Scott Houston, David H. Levy and Sir Patrick Moore is fully explored. Generously illustrated throughout, this treasure trove of astronomical history shows how each observer's work led to seminal developments in science, and providing key insights into how we go about exploring the heavens today.

Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution

Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution PDF Author: A.D. Morrison-Low
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135192074X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
At the start of the Industrial Revolution, it appeared that most scientific instruments were made and sold in London, but by the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, a number of provincial firms had the self-confidence to exhibit their products in London to an international audience. How had this change come about, and why? This book looks at the four main, and two lesser, English centres known for instrument production outside the capital: Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, along with the older population centres in Bristol and York. Making wide use of new sources, Dr Morrison-Low, curator of history of science at the National Museums of Scotland, charts the growth of these centres and provides a characterisation of their products. New information is provided on aspects of the trade, especially marketing techniques, sources of materials, tools and customer relationships. From contemporary evidence, she argues that the principal output of the provincial trade (with some notable exceptions) must have been into the London marketplace, anonymously, and at the cheaper end of the market. She also discusses the structure and organization of the provincial trade, and looks at the impact of new technology imported from other closely-allied trades. By virtue of its approach and subject matter the book considers aspects of economic and business history, gender and the family, the history of science and technology, material culture, and patterns of migration. It contains a myriad of stories of families and firms, of entrepreneurs and customers, and of organizations and arms of government. In bringing together this wide range of interests, Dr Morrison-Low enables us to appreciate how central the making, selling and distribution of scientific instruments was for the Industrial Revolution.

It's Part of What We Are - Volumes 1 and 2 - Volume 1: Richard Boyle (1566-1643) to John Tyndall (1820-1893); Volume 2: Samuel Haughton (18210-1897) to John Stewart Bell (1928-1990)

It's Part of What We Are - Volumes 1 and 2 - Volume 1: Richard Boyle (1566-1643) to John Tyndall (1820-1893); Volume 2: Samuel Haughton (18210-1897) to John Stewart Bell (1928-1990) PDF Author: Charles Mollan
Publisher: Charles Mollan
ISBN: 0860270556
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1892

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Book Description
Biographies of more than 100 Irish scientists (or those with strong Irish connections), in the disciplines of Chemistry and Physics, including Astronomy, Mathematics etc., describing them in their Irish and international scientific, social, educational and political context. Written in an attractive informal style for the hypothetical 'educated layman' who does not need to have studied science. Well received in Irish and international reviews.