Böcker i Cambridge Library Collection - Astronomy-serien

In this 1874 monograph, James Nasmyth (1808-90) and James Carpenter (1840-99) look closely at the lunar surface, illustrating their work with photographs of accurate plaster models. Among the topics discussed are the possibility of a lunar atmosphere, life on the moon, and the probable causes of its craters.

The title page calls the author of this 1888 work 'A Lady Astronomer'. She was Elizabeth Brown (1830-99), and the shadow she was pursuing was the eclipse of the sun on 19 August 1887, which could be best observed in northern Russia. Brought up by her father to make weather observations and to use a telescope, she became a member of the Liverpool Astronomical Society - on behalf of which she undertook her Russian expedition - and was later active in founding the British Astronomical Association. (The Royal Astronomical Society did not at this point admit women.) The book describes her journey, from her arrival at Hull to meet her travelling companion, to Russia, and home again. The actual viewing of the eclipse, at Kineshma, 200 miles north-east of Moscow, was spoiled by cloud cover, but her lively and observant account of her adventures is a fascinating record by a pioneering female scientist.

French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) called the study of the heavens 'the science which concerns us most'. He believed that learning 'what place we occupy in the infinite' could delight and instruct, and might even promote an end to war and strife. Flammarion dedicated the present work to Francois Arago (1786-1853), author of earlier work on popular astronomy. Since Arago's time, the capabilities of telescopes and other instruments had vastly improved, advancing understanding in areas such as the composition of stars. Flammarion sought to bring this new knowledge to the public in a charming yet 'scrupulously exact' style. His highly illustrated introduction to astronomy succeeded in reaching a wide readership, selling over 100,000 French copies before this English translation appeared in 1894. The 1881 French version and Flammarion's work on the origins of the Earth, Le Monde avant la creation de l'homme (1886), are also reissued in this series.

Thomas William Webb (1807-1885) was an Oxford-educated English clergyman whose deep interest in astronomy and accompanying field observations eventually led to the publication of his Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes in 1859. An attempt 'to furnish the possessors of ordinary telescopes with plain directions for their use, and a list of objects for their advantageous employment', the book was popular with amateur stargazers for many decades to follow. Underlying Webb's celestial field guide and directions on telescope use was a deep conviction that the heavens pointed observers 'to the most impressive thoughts of the littleness of man, and of the unspeakable greatness and glory of the Creator'. A classic and well-loved work by a passionate practitioner, the monograph remains an important landmark in the history of astronomy, as well as a tool for use by amateurs and professionals alike.

The experiences and challenges undertaken by C. Piazzi Smyth during his expedition to Tenerife on behalf of the Astronomer Royal are richly depicted and illustrated in this descriptive report of a major scientific expedition's course. The experiment was 'to ascertain how far astronomical observation can be improved, by eliminating the lower third part of the atmosphere'. This account of the data collection process details the flexibility and adjustments that were required throughout the course of this experiment, and the practical organisational difficulties and delights of leading such an expedition. The joys and interest of travelling in a foreign land are described with anecdotes of the people, flora, fauna and geography; particularly the research area, a volcano. Although first published in 1858 this detailed account of the experience of collecting precise scientific data in a challenging environment provides fascinating insights for any scientist undertaking research in the wild.

William F. Denning (1848-1931) was a British astronomer famous for his planetary observations and meteor studies. Elected president of the Liverpool Astronomical Society in 1887, he wrote a series of articles on telescopes for the society's journal, which were brought together and republished in 1891 under the title Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings. Intended as a contribution to popular astronomy, this book provides a varied introduction to telescopes and their usage. The opening essay traces the development of the telescope from antiquity, through Galileo and Newton's contributions in the seventeenth century, to contemporary progress in astronomy. Other chapters provide practical advice for conducting planetary observation and detailed studies of particular planets, as well as facts and figures about meteors and how to compute their orbit. This book provides a fascinating insight into the evolution of astronomy and will be a valuable resource for historians of science and amateur astronomers.

Sir Robert Stawell Ball's Star-Land of 1889 is based on some of his Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution during his time as royal astronomer of Ireland, a post he held from 1874 to 1892. These lectures were aimed at a young audience in order to introduce them to the subject, and fire their interest in the wonders of the universe. This volume includes lectures on the sun, the moon, the inner and giant planets, comets and shooting stars, and stars. It also contains a chapter on the observation and naming of stars. Ball was a renowned public lecturer, with commissions across Britain, Ireland and the United States, where his anecdotal and conversational style won him much popularity. The author of several frequently reprinted science books, he was knighted in 1886 and in 1892 became Lowendean professor of astronomy at Cambridge and the director of the university observatory.

John Browning (1830-1925) was the leading British manufacturer of precision scientific instruments, including spectroscopes, telescopes, microscopes, and opthalmoscopes. In How to Work with the Spectroscope (1878), he provides a complete overview of the field in which he was the undisputed expert, describing in detail the care and use of instruments ranging from the universal spectroscope to the star spectroscope to the induction coil. This volume also includes Browning's A Plea for Reflectors (1867), in which he provides an introduction to the silvered-glass reflecting telescope. Numerous illustrations of the various instruments and a complete price list of Browning's lenses and other apparatuses provide important insight into his business practices and range of expertise. Designed for the lay enthusiast no less than the dedicated scientist, these volumes are also valuable witnesses to the growth of popular science in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain.

Six Months in Ascension, first published in 1878, contains an account by Isobel Sarah B. Gill of the 1877 scientific expedition to the island of Ascension, in the South Atlantic, undertaken to measure the distance of the sun from the earth by observing the opposition of the planet Mars. The expedition, funded by the Royal Astronomical Society, was led by Isobel's husband, the astronomer David Gill, with a heliometer and other scientific instruments provided by Lord Lindsay. Isobel accompanied the expedition as her husband's companion. Her account offers personal details and stories omitted from the scientific reports on the expedition written by her husband and colleagues and it contains beautiful descriptions of the island of Ascension. The book offers a rare view of the personal, practical and behind-the-scenes side of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition and provides a fascinating insight into the gender roles of learned Victorian society.

Jeremiah Horrox (1618-1641) was one of the most interesting astronomers Britain has ever produced, and his tragically early death deprived the field of one of its most brilliant talents. In his short life he achieved much, having mastered the current state of astronomy at Cambridge University and going on to make important new calculations about the diameter and position of known planets, moons and stars. In the 1660s and 70s several prominent scientists, including Huygens, Newton and Flamsteed, took an interest in Horrox's discoveries and published his surviving treatises. This memoir of 1859 was part of a Victorian revival of interest in Horrox. It includes translation of his major work, Venus in Sole Visa, a draft of a treatise on the transit of Venus, in which he describes the conjunction of Venus with the sun, which he correctly calculated and observed in 1639.

Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871) - astronomer, mathematician, chemist - was one of the most important English scientists of the nineteenth century. Son of the famous astronomer William Herschel and nephew of Caroline, he was persuaded by his father to pursue the astronomical investigations William could no longer undertake; John's subsequent career resulted in a knighthood and a lifetime of accolades. Outlines of Astronomy (1849), an updated and expanded version of his 1833 Treatise on Astronomy, went through eleven editions in two decades and was translated into several languages. Outlines examines terrestrial and celestial phenomena, providing the reader with a wide range of knowledge about the physical world as a whole. The work is an important textbook, the object of which 'is not to convince or refute opponents, nor to inquire ... for principles of which we are all the time in full possession - but simply to teach what is known'.

Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876) contains the letters and diaries of the celebrated astronomer Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), edited by her niece, Mary Herschel. Caroline was born in Hanover to a musician father and an illiterate mother who did not want her daughter to be educated. However Caroline's brother William, an organist employed in Bath, persuaded their mother to allow Caroline to join him there. She left for England in 1772 to live with William, to whom she remained devoted all of her life. In Bath, William turned towards telescope-making and astronomy, to such effect that in 1781 he discovered the planet Uranus. He was appointed 'the King's astronomer' in 1782, and Caroline, trained by William, continued to work at his side as a scientist in her own right. Between them, they discovered eight comets and raised the number of recorded nebulae from a hundred to 2500.

Admiral William Henry Smyth's Sidereal Chromatics (1864) represents a landmark achievement in nineteenth-century astronomy, offering the most precise observations of the colours of double stars yet recorded. An expansion upon his well-known Bedford Cycle of Celestial Objects, which garnered a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society, Sidereal Chromatics provides both a theory concerning the source of double-star colours and a method for determining their most exact description. Detailed charts compare Smyth's measurements of more than one hundred double stars with his own previously published observations and those of his fellow astronomer, Father Benedetto Sestini. This edition also includes Smyth's famous colour chart, an attempt to standardise the process of identifying double-star colours. Sidereal Chromatics ends with Smyth's plea to amateur astronomers to continue the effort of charting the heavens, aided by improved telescopes and works such as his, 'trustworthy treatises available to all men'.

Joseph Harris (c.1704-64) was an astronomer and teacher of navigation who published a number of books on scientific subjects. Reissued in its first edition, this 1731 popular introduction to the solar system and the use of astronomical apparatus, such as globes and orreries, went through fourteen printings by 1793.

Both an amateur astronomer and a strongly religious man, Thomas Wright (1711-86) is known for his description of the Milky Way as disc-shaped. The various claims he made, based on a combination of his observations and his religious beliefs, are given in this illustrated and influential work of 1750.

James Ferguson (1710-1776) was a Scottish self-taught astronomer, instrument-maker and artist. He was particularly famous for his clear explanation of scientific subjects. This autobiography, expanded by Ebenezer Henderson and published in 1867, contains details of many of his inventions and improvements of those of others.

Irish mathematician and astronomer Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) excelled in writing for a general readership. Including star charts, maps of the moon, and concise, non-technical explanations of basic terms, this highly illustrated introduction to astronomy was originally published in 1905.

In this entertaining and highly illustrated history of the Royal Observatory, first published in 1900, astronomer Edward Walter Maunder (1851-1928) explores the departments of the institution and the lives of its Astronomers Royal, illuminating the fabulous and often overlooked advances made there since its founding in the seventeenth century.

Spherical astronomy is concerned with the location of objects on the celestial sphere. In this technical introduction to the subject, first published in 1908 and intended for advanced students, Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) goes through the subject systematically, including exercises derived from contemporary Cambridge examinations.

Including a biography and a wealth of previously unpublished material, this two-volume collection of papers by the astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) first appeared in 1912. Volume 2 contains his later work, from studies of Saturn and the moons of Uranus to his final observations.

Including a biography and a wealth of previously unpublished material, this two-volume collection of papers by the astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) first appeared in 1912. Volume 1 contains his earlier work, from the discovery of Uranus to observations relating to the likelihood of life on the Moon.

Touching on optics, gravity, trigonometry and a host of other astronomical ideas, this collection of ten lectures was originally written for the young women under the tutelage of the author. Although the practice of introducing girls to science was controversial, the work was published in 1797 to wide acclaim.

Astronomer J. P. Nichol (1804-59), Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, brings the discovery of Neptune, the first planet to be revealed by mathematical prediction rather than empirical observation, to a popular audience in this book, first published in 1855.

John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first Astronomer Royal, complied a 'Catalogue of British Stars' but quarrelled with Newton and Halley over his failure to publish it. In 1835 Francis Baily (1774-1844) published Flamsteed's edited papers, with a revised version of the catalogue, rehabilitating his reputation and promoting observational astronomy.

Astronomical guides were available in the early nineteenth century, but it was rare to find examples in English since most came from the continent. This two-volume work by the astronomer William Pearson (1767-1847) sought to rectify the problem. First published in 1829, Volume 2 focuses on descriptions of useful equipment.

Astronomical guides were available in the early nineteenth century, but it was rare to find examples in English since most came from the continent. This two-volume work by the astronomer William Pearson (1767-1847) sought to rectify the problem. First published in 1824, Volume 1 includes extensive tables and instructions.

The Concise Knowledge Astronomy, published in 1898, was one of a series of popular reference books by experts. Illustrated by over 100 photographs and drawings, the book aims to provide the educated non-specialist reader with an understanding of current astronomical knowledge and theories, including a historical outline of astronomy.

A fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a pioneer in modern astronomy, Isaac Roberts made significant advances in the field of stellar photography. This second volume of Photographs of Stars, published in London in 1899, contains 29 plates of stars, and his conclusions about their origins and nature.

A fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a pioneer in modern astronomy, Isaac Roberts made significant advances in the field of stellar photography. This first volume of Photographs of Stars, published in London in 1893, contains 51 collotype plates of stars, and descriptions of his instruments and methods.