Article
ID: CBB001553382

“Land-Marks of the Universe”: John Herschel against the Background of Positional Astronomy (2015)

unapi
Astronomy Chemistry Discipline formation Great Britain Herschel, John Frederick William

John Herschel (1792--1871) was the leading British natural philosopher of the nineteenth century, widely known and regarded for his work in philosophy, optics and chemistry as well as his important research and popular publications on astronomy. To date, however, there exists no extended treatment of his astronomical career. This paper, part of a larger study exploring Herschel's contributions to astronomy, examines his work in the context of positional astronomy, the dominant form of astronomical practice throughout his lifetime. Herschel, who did not himself practice positional astronomy and who was known for his non-meridional observations of specific stellar objects, was nonetheless a strong advocate for positional astronomy---but for very different reasons than the terrestrial applications to which it was most often put. For Herschel, the star catalogues of positional astronomy were the necessary observational foundation upon which information about the stars as physical objects could be constructed. Positional astronomy practiced in the great national observatories was not about navigation or timekeeping; it was a way to standardize stellar observations and make them useful data for constructing theories of the stars themselves. For Herschel, the seeds of the new astronomy emerged from the practices of the old.

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Authors & Contributors
Case, Stephen
Snyder, Laura J.
Ruskin, Steven. W.
Mainz, Vera V.
Case, Stephen R.
Wiegand, Dometa J.
Journals
Journal for the History of Astronomy
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Llull: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
Eighteenth-Century Studies
Publishers
Springer International Publishing
Washington State University
University of Pittsburgh Press
University of Notre Dame
Pantheon Books
Broadway Books
Concepts
Astronomy
Chemistry
Discipline formation
Solar system; planets
Biographies
Science and society
People
Herschel, John Frederick William
Herschel, William
Whewell, William
Herschel, Caroline
Davy, Humphry
Liveing, George Downing
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
United States
France
Institutions
Cambridge University
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