Aurora borealis systems in the German-Russian world in the first half of the eighteenth century: the cases of Friedrich Christoph Mayer and Leonhard Euler (2021)
Éric Chassefière (Author)
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Volume: 78
Issue: 2
Pages: 162-196
We are interested in the case of Friedrich Christoph Mayer, who in the 1720s, while at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (in Latin Academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae), developed a system of the aurora borealis, as well as a mathematical method for calculating the height of the aurora from the geometrical characteristics of the auroral arc. Mayer, encountering a major contradiction in his system which placed the aurora at the height of the clouds, whereas his mathematical method led to an altitude a hundred times higher, never applied his method to concrete cases to deduce the height of the aurora, and quickly lost interest in their detailed description, a task that was nevertheless assigned to him at the St. Petersburg Observatory. Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan suggests that Mayer’s abandonment was due to his lack of confidence in observations. We set Mayer’s case against that of Leonhard Euler who, working with Mayer and being aware of the great height of the aurora, later developed a system of the aurora borealis that was compatible with the observational fact. We put forward possible hypotheses to explain Mayer’s disinterest in observing the aurora and in the mathematical method he himself had developed.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Ermolaeva, Natalia;
(2008)
Les mathématiciens de Saint-Pétersbourg et les problèmes cartographiques
(/isis/citation/CBB001021143/)
Article
Mallion, Roger;
(2008)
A Contemporary Eulerian Walk over the Bridges of Kaliningrad
(/isis/citation/CBB000931915/)
Book
Bradley, Robert E.;
Sandifer, Charles Edward;
(2007)
Leonhard Euler: Life, Work and Legacy
(/isis/citation/CBB000773345/)
Article
Zaytsev, Evgeny;
(2008)
Euler's Problem of Königsberg Bridges and Leibniz' Geometria Situs
(/isis/citation/CBB001021140/)
Article
Maria Teresa Borgato;
(2013)
Lagrange et les fonds de pension pour les veuves
(/isis/citation/CBB017117785/)
Article
Bullynck, Maarten;
(2009)
Modular Arithmetic before C. F. Gauss: Systematizations and Discussions on Remainder Problems in 18th-Century Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB000953002/)
Article
Thomas, Hugh;
(2011)
Weather and Phenological Observations at Hurstpierpoint 1859 to 1862
(/isis/citation/CBB001321071/)
Book
Wladimir Köppen;
Alfred Wegener;
(2018)
Wladimir Köppen - Scholar for Life Wladimir Köppen - ein Gelehrtenleben für die Meteorologie: Original German edition and ... Übersetzung mit ergänzter Bibliographie
(/isis/citation/CBB433585101/)
Book
Eric Chassefière;
(2022)
Physique de l'environnement Terrestre, Matières Subtiles et Hauteur de L'atmosphère Conceptions de l'atmosphère et Nature de l'air Au Siècle des Lumières
(/isis/citation/CBB574885901/)
Article
René Sigrist;
Alexander Moutchnik;
(2015)
Entre Ciel et Terre : les fonctions de l’astronomie dans la Russie du 18e siècle
(/isis/citation/CBB543357964/)
Article
Sylvio R. Bistafa;
(2022)
Euler first theory of resonance
(/isis/citation/CBB271814830/)
Article
Heeffer, Albrecht;
(2012)
The Genesis of the Algebra Textbook: From Pacioli to Euler
(/isis/citation/CBB001320800/)
Article
John D Bullock;
Ronald E Warwar;
H Bradford Hawley;
(2022)
Why was Leonhard Euler blind?
(/isis/citation/CBB050825039/)
Article
Griffin, David;
(2013)
Ut Pictura Poesis: Drawing into Space
(/isis/citation/CBB001320658/)
Article
Coates, John;
(2008)
Euler's Work on Zeta and L-Functions and Their Special Values
(/isis/citation/CBB000931916/)
Book
Richeson, David S.;
(2008)
Euler's Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topology
(/isis/citation/CBB000950327/)
Book
Stén, Johan C. E.;
(2014)
A Comet of the Enlightenment: Anders Johan Lexell's Life and Discoveries
(/isis/citation/CBB001500577/)
Article
Delshams, Amadeu;
Massa Esteve, Maria Rosa;
(2008)
Consideracions al voltant de la Funció Beta a l'obra de Leonhard Euler (1707--1783)
(/isis/citation/CBB000933316/)
Article
Roussanova, Elena;
(2009)
Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss: A Precious Discovery in the Archive of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg
(/isis/citation/CBB155889812/)
Article
Maria Rosaria Enea;
Giovanni Ferraro;
Giovanni Capobianco;
(2017)
Geometry and Analysis in Euler’s Integral Calculus
(/isis/citation/CBB172886959/)
Be the first to comment!