The Astronomers who fell to Earth: or, how the Copernican Revolution was completed in the Alps (2021)
Good, Gregory A. (Author)
Physis: Rivista Internazionale di Storia della Scienza
Volume: 56
Pages: 7-20
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, natural philosophers and astronomers completed the Copernican Revolution by bringing its implications to the study of the third planet, Earth. No longer standing as the universal exception, unique in the center of the Cosmos, Earth had gradually to take its place as a celestial body, subject to gravity and other cosmic forces. Moreover, natural philosophers and astronomers brought to this study questions relevant to but distinct from those asked by natural historians and geologists. From Saussure and Humboldt to the Herschels, Gauss, and Bessel, new instruments and methods were applied to the shape of the Earth, its magnetic and seismic properties, its fluid envelopes, and to the chemical and physical properties of its materials. Much of the work for this new set of scientific investigations occurred in the field. This talk will focus on the Alps as a fieldwork site for this emerging cosmophysical geoscience, and especially on the work of John Herschel.
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