Article ID: CBB902924017

Stabilizing Local Knowledge: The Installation of a Meridian Circle at the National Astronomical Observatory of Chile (1908–1913) (2022)

unapi

This essay examines the problems associated with the installation of a precision instrument at the National Astronomical Observatory of Chile, starting before its construction and following the process through its installation to its later useful life. Between 1908 and 1913, the director of the observatory, Friedrich W. Ristenpart, corresponded with the German manufacturer, A. Repsold & Söhne in Hamburg, trying to identify the critical points pertinent to the installation of the instrument in Chile. These communications reveal how the installation of the instrument required the stabilization of local knowledge (location, adjustment, calibration, and staging) that would allow the data it obtained to be universally validated. This correspondence between user and manufacturer also reveals that the phenomenon of the mobility of instruments implies much more than simply transporting something from one place to another: there is no movement without some type of coordination between the extraction of an object from a certain place and context and its insertion into a new place and set of relationships.

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Authors & Contributors
Orchiston, Wayne
Sanhueza-Cerda, Carlos
Jagdev Singh
Harriet J. Mercer
Master, Sharad
Hermosilla, Germán Hidalgo
Concepts
Astronomical observatories
Instruments, astronomical
Scientific collaboration
Correspondence and corresponding
Astronomy
Telescopes
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
21st century
17th century
Ancient
Places
Chile
United States
China
Santiago (Chile)
Oslo (Norway)
Uppsala (Sweden)
Institutions
Observatorio Astronómico Nacional de Chile
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
United States Naval Observatory
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