Kwan, Alistair Marcus (Author)
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)
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 71/07 (2011). Pub. no. AAT 3415317.
Book
Bugge, Thomas;
Pedersen, Kurt Møller;
de Clercq, Peter;
(2010)
An Observer of Observatories: The Journal of Thomas Bugge's Tour of Germany, Holland and England in 1777
(/isis/citation/CBB001024752/)
Book
Borheck, Georg Heinrich;
Beuermann, Klaus;
(2005)
Grundsätze über die Anlage neuer Sternwarten unter Beziehung auf die Sternwarte der Universität Göttingen
(/isis/citation/CBB001232285/)
Book
Boner, Patrick J.;
Tessicini, Dario;
(2013)
Celestial Novelties on the Eve of the Scientific Revolution, 1540--1630
(/isis/citation/CBB001200998/)
Book
Brandl, Bernhard R.;
Stuik, Remko;
Katgert-Merkelijn, J. K.;
(2010)
400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes: A Review of History, Science and Technology
(/isis/citation/CBB001232417/)
Book
Zuidervaart, Huib J.;
(2007)
Telescopes from Leiden Observatory and Other Collections, 1656--1859: A Descriptive Catalogue
(/isis/citation/CBB001021804/)
Article
Hoskin, Michael;
(2008)
Nebulae, Star Clusters and the Milky Way: From Galileo to William Herschel
(/isis/citation/CBB000930134/)
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/)
Chapter
Seyyed Hadi Tabatabaei;
(2019)
The Introduction of the Telescope into Iran before the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB004733557/)
Article
Kane Mullen;
(2020)
Temporary Measures: Women Computers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1890–1895
(/isis/citation/CBB011712539/)
Book
Gußmann, Ernst-August;
Scholz, Gerhard;
Dick, Wolfgang R.;
(2000)
Der Große Refraktor auf dem Potsdamer Telegrafenberg. Vorträge zu seinem 100 jährigen Bestehen
(/isis/citation/CBB000102401/)
Chapter
Strano, Giorgio;
(2013)
Galileo, Reliable Observer: Astronomical Accuracy and the Optical Limits of the Telescope
(/isis/citation/CBB001201010/)
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/)
Article
Hoskin, Michael;
(2011)
William Herschel and Herschelian Reflectors
(/isis/citation/CBB001023542/)
Article
Margherita Palumbo;
(2008)
"Les livres en Hollande sont en perpetuelle circulation...": intorno a un libro appartenuto a Finé e Leibniz
(/isis/citation/CBB802393288/)
Chapter
Hamel, Jürgen;
(2009)
Die Begründung der modernen astronomischen Beobachtungstechnik an der Kasseler Sternwarte im 16. Jahrhundert. Der Kasseler Sternkatalog 1586---eine Fehleranalyse der ihm zugrunde liegenden Positionsmessungen
(/isis/citation/CBB000953689/)
Chapter
Trier, Friedrich H.;
Gaulke, Karsten;
(2007)
Das Luftfernrohr von Giuseppe Campani im Astronomisch-Physikalischen Kabinett der Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel
(/isis/citation/CBB000930915/)
Book
Dick, Wolfgang R.;
Hamel, Jürgen;
(1999)
Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte
(/isis/citation/CBB000110076/)
Chapter
Schielicke, Reinhard E.;
(2010)
Erhard Weigel (1625--1699) und die Armillarsphäre für Eimmarts Observatorium in Nürnberg
(/isis/citation/CBB001214075/)
Book
Wootton, David;
(2010)
Galileo: Watcher of the Skies
(/isis/citation/CBB001033187/)
Article
Müller, Kathrin;
(2010)
How to Craft Telescopic Observation in a Book: Hevelius's Selenographia (1647) and Its Images
(/isis/citation/CBB001023549/)
Be the first to comment!