McAleer, John (Author)
This article argues that the study of astronomical observing instruments, their transportation around the globe and the personal and professional networks created by such exchanges are useful conceptual tools in exploring the role of science in the nineteenth-century British Empire. The shipping of scientific instruments highlights the physical and material connections that bound the empire together. Large, heavy and fragile objects, such as transit circles, were difficult to transport and repair. As such, the logistical difficulties associated with their movement illustrate the limitations of colonial scientific enterprises and their reliance on European centres. The discussion also examines the impact of the circulation of such objects on observatories and astronomers working in southern Africa, India and St Helena by tracing the connections between these places and British scientific institutions, London-based instrument-makers, and staff at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. It explores the ways in which astronomy generally, and the use of observing instruments in particular, relate to broader themes about the applications of science, the development of colonial identities, and the consolidation of empire in the first half of the nineteenth century. In considering these issues, the article illustrates the symbiotic relationship between science and empire in the period, demonstrating the overlap between political and strategic considerations and purely scientific endeavours. Almost paradoxically, as they trained their sights and their telescopes on the heavens, astronomers and observers helped to draw diverse regions of the earth beneath closer together. By tracing the movement of instruments and the arcs of patronage, cooperation and power that these trajectories inscribe, the role of science and scientific objects in forging global links and influencing the dynamics of the nineteenth-century British Empire is brought into greater focus.
...More
Article
Mcaleer, John;
(2013)
“Stargazers at the World's End”: Telescopes, Observatories and “Views” of Empire in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001320131/)
Book
Gillespie, Richard;
(2011)
The Great Melbourne Telescope
(/isis/citation/CBB001250823/)
Article
Poppi, Francesco;
Bonoli, Fabrizio;
Gualandi, Andrea;
(2008)
A Short History of Two Nineteenth-Century German Instruments at the Bologna Observatory: The 16-cm Steinheil Refractor and the Ertel and Sohn Meridian Circle
(/isis/citation/CBB001034776/)
Article
Bjorn Ragnvald Pettersen;
(2019)
Merz telescopes at the University Observatory in Christiania, Norway
(/isis/citation/CBB142832868/)
Article
Wayne Orchiston;
Vicki Darlington;
(2017)
A tale of two telescopes: North Queensland and the 1882 transit of Venus
(/isis/citation/CBB488911807/)
Book
Ileana Chinnici;
(2018)
Merz Telescopes: A global heritage worth preserving
(/isis/citation/CBB091144386/)
Chapter
Mauro Gargano;
(2017)
On the Collection of Merz Instruments at the Naples Observatory
(/isis/citation/CBB695123031/)
Article
Kane Mullen;
(2020)
Temporary Measures: Women Computers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1890–1895
(/isis/citation/CBB011712539/)
Article
Kapoor, R. C.;
(2021)
Comet tales from India: Donati’s Comet of 1858 (C/1858 L1 Donati)
(/isis/citation/CBB405119653/)
Article
Wayne Orchiston;
R.C. Kapoor;
(2023)
Indian Initiatives to Establish 'Western’ Astronomical Observatories Prior to Independence. 1: The Aristocrats
(/isis/citation/CBB939617289/)
Book
Massimo Bucciantini;
Franco Giudice;
Michele Camerota;
(2015)
Galileo's Telescope: A European Story
(/isis/citation/CBB071731602/)
Article
R. C. Kapoor;
(2016)
Nūr Ud-Dīn Jahāngīr and Father Kirwitzer: the independent discovery of the Great Comets of November 1618 and the first astronomical use of the telescope in India
(/isis/citation/CBB825103148/)
Chapter
Schielicke, Reinhard E.;
(2010)
Erhard Weigel (1625--1699) und die Armillarsphäre für Eimmarts Observatorium in Nürnberg
(/isis/citation/CBB001214075/)
Chapter
Wayne Orchiston;
(2016)
Joseph Ward: Pioneer New Zealand Telescope-Maker
(/isis/citation/CBB119826569/)
Chapter
Strano, Giorgio;
(2013)
Galileo, Reliable Observer: Astronomical Accuracy and the Optical Limits of the Telescope
(/isis/citation/CBB001201010/)
Chapter
Wayne Orchiston;
(2016)
The Wanganui Refractor and Its Remarkable English Equatorial Mounting
(/isis/citation/CBB457415462/)
Chapter
Tofigh Heidarzadeh;
(2015)
Islamic Astronomical Instruments and Observatories
(/isis/citation/CBB834442466/)
Book
Barbara Hahn;
(2020)
Technology in the Industrial Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB086776543/)
Thesis
Jonah Rowen;
(2020)
Materials, Labor, and Apprehension: Building for the Threat of Fire Across the Nineteenth-century British Atlantic
(/isis/citation/CBB716984895/)
Book
Hoffenberg, Peter H.;
(2001)
Empire on Display: English, Indian, and Australian Exhibitions from the Crystal Palace to the Great War
(/isis/citation/CBB000102081/)
Be the first to comment!