Cunningham, Clifford J. (Author)
Springer
Physical Details: 346
Language: English
Based on extensive primary sources, many never previously translated into English, this is the definitive account of the origins of Ceres as it went from being classified as a new planet to reclassification as the first of a previously unknown group of celestial objects. Cunningham opens this critical moment of astronomical discovery to full modern analysis for the first time. This book includes all the voluminous correspondence, translated into English, between the astronomers of Europe about the startling discovery of Ceres by Piazzi in 1801. It covers the period up to March 1802, at which time Pallas was discovered. Also included are Piazzi’s two monographs about Ceres, and the sections of two books dealing with Ceres, one by Johann Bode, the other by Johann Schroeter. The origin of the word ‘asteroid’ is explained, along with several chapters on the antecedents of the story going back to ancient Greek times. The formulation of Bode’s Law is given, as are the details on the efforts of Baron von Zach to organize a search for the supposed missing planet between Mars and Jupiter. Examples of verse created to commemorate the great discovery are included in this first volume. The author, who has a PhD in the History of Astronomy, is a dedicated scholar of the story of asteroids and his research on the discovery of Ceres is comprehensive and fully sourced. The discovery came at a time when rival astronomers were in hot competition with each other, and when the true nature of these celestial bodies was not yet known. With astronomers in France, Italy and beyond vying to understand and receive credit for the new class of astral bodies, drama was not in short supply--nor were scientific advances.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Clifford J. Cunningham;
(2016)
Studies of Pallas in the Early Nineteenth Century: Historical Studies in Asteroid Research
(/isis/citation/CBB382872949/)
Book
Clifford J. Cunningham;
(2018)
Investigating the Origin of the Asteroids and Early Findings on Vesta: Historical Studies in Asteroid Research
(/isis/citation/CBB427365673/)
Article
Kollerstrom, Nicholas;
(2009)
The Naming of Neptune
(/isis/citation/CBB001034790/)
Article
Anderson, Thomas J.;
(2013)
Aepyornis as Moa: Giant Birds and Global Connections in Nineteenth-Century Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001213514/)
Book
Kevin Lambert;
(2021)
Symbols and Things: Material Mathematics in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB884699301/)
Article
Christensen, Lars Lindberg;
(2007)
The Pluto Affair: When Professionals Talk to Professionals with the Public Watching
(/isis/citation/CBB001000308/)
Chapter
Olson, Valerie A.;
(2013)
NEOecology: The Solar System's Emerging Environmental History and Politics
(/isis/citation/CBB001420349/)
Article
Martin Connors;
(2024)
The discovery and naming of Trojan asteroids
(/isis/citation/CBB700468449/)
Article
Cunningham, Clifford J.;
Marsden, Brian G.;
Orchiston, Wayne;
(2009)
How the First Dwarf Planet Became the Asteroid Ceres
(/isis/citation/CBB001034807/)
Article
Hughes, David W.;
Marsden, Brian G.;
(2007)
Planet, Asteroid, Minor Planet: A Case Study in Astronomical Nomenclature
(/isis/citation/CBB000831604/)
Article
Fritz Krafft;
(2011)
Orbis (sphaera), Circulus, Via, Iter, Orbita} -- Zur terminologischen Kennzeichnung des wesentlichsten Paradigmawechsels in der Astronomie durch Johannes Kepler
(/isis/citation/CBB556613876/)
Article
Ilizarov, S. S.;
(2010)
G. F. Miller and the Development of Academic Writing in Russia
(/isis/citation/CBB001211360/)
Chapter
Massimo Tinazzi;
(2009)
L'epistolario di Pietro Cossali con Antonio Cagnoli, Giovanni Angelo De Cesaris, Giuseppe Veneziani Tacito, sulle osservazioni di Cerere
(/isis/citation/CBB421724767/)
Essay Review
Nasim, Omar W.;
(2014)
Discovery in Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001500369/)
Article
Cunningham, Clifford J.;
Orchiston, Wayne;
(2011)
Who Invented the Word Asteroid: William Herschel or Stephen Weston?
(/isis/citation/CBB001221523/)
Article
Morange, Michel;
(2009)
The Notion of the Episome
(/isis/citation/CBB001034005/)
Book
Chantal Grell;
(2014)
Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius.Volume 1: Prolégomènes critiques
(/isis/citation/CBB265925939/)
Thesis
Yale, Elizabeth E.;
(2008)
Manuscript Technologies: Correspondence, Collaboration, and the Constructionof Natural Knowledge in Early Modern Britain
(/isis/citation/CBB001560657/)
Article
Vanderstraeten, Raf;
(2011)
Scholarly Communication in Education Journals
(/isis/citation/CBB001231852/)
Article
Yale, Elizabeth;
(2011)
Marginalia, Commonplaces, and Correspondence: Scribal Exchange in Early Modern Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001024005/)
Be the first to comment!