Thesis ID: CBB001561038

Architectures of Astronomical Observation: From Sternwarte Kassel (circa 1560) to the Radcliffe Observatory (1772) (2010)

unapi

Kwan, Alistair Marcus (Author)


Yale University
Kevles, Daniel J.


Publication Date: 2010
Edition Details: Advisor: Kevles, Daniel J.
Physical Details: 314 pp.
Language: English

Historical observatories did not merely shelter astronomers and their instruments, but interacted with them to shape the range and outcome of astronomical observations. This claim is demonstrated through both improvised and purpose-built observatories from the late sixteenth century to the late eighteenth. The improvised observatories involve various grades of architectural intervention from simple re-purposing of a generic space through to radical renovation and customisation. Some of the observatories examined were never built, and some survive only in textual and visual representations, but all nonetheless reflect astronomers' thinking about what observatories needed to provide, and allow us to reconstruct aspects of what it was like to work in them. Historical observatories hence offer a physical record of observational practices. Reconstructing lost practices and the tacit knowledge involved shows how observatories actively contributed to observations by accommodating, supporting and sheltering observers and instruments. We also see how observatories compromised observations by constraining views and free movement, by failing to provide sufficient support, by being expensive or otherwise difficult to obtain, modify or replace. Some observatories were modified many times, accumulating layers of renovation and addition that reflect both advancement and succession of multiple research programs. Such observatories materially and spatially manifest how observational astronomy developed and also also how observatories, like other buildings, respond to changing needs. Examining observatories for their architectural functions and functional shortcomings connects observational practices, spatial configurations and astronomical instrumentation. Such examination shows that spatial contexts, and hence the buildings that define them, are not passive: to the contrary, observatories are active protagonists in the development and practise of observational astronomy. References * References (243)

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Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 71/07 (2011). Pub. no. AAT 3415317.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001561038/

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Authors & Contributors
Hoskin, Michael A.
Hamel, Jürgen
Dick, Wolfgang R.
Tabatabaei, Seyyed Hadi
Mullen, Kane
Zuidervaart, Huibert Jan
Concepts
Astronomy
Telescopes
Astronomical observatories
Scientific apparatus and instruments
Instruments, astronomical
Observation
Time Periods
17th century
19th century
18th century
16th century
20th century
Places
Germany
Europe
Kassel (Germany)
Netherlands
Great Britain
Nuremberg (Germany)
Institutions
Osservatorio astronomico universitario di Bologna
Göttingen. Universität
Leiden Observatory
Royal Observatory Greenwich
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