The world's first mountain-top observatory and America's first big-science research center, Lick Observatory exemplifies astronomy's dramatic development in the past century. A dedicated Confederate naval officer and his jack-of-all-trades foreman used the bequest of a miserly California eccentric to transform an isolated mountain peak into the world's premier research observatory. Its first staff included a director from West Point and three of the outstanding astronomers of their time. Since its dedication in 1888, Lick Observatory has been the site of many of the most important discoveries in astronomy.
Eye on the Sky presents Lick Observatory from the point of view of the people who breathed life into its giant telescopes. Their community was both constant and constantly transformed, shaped by workers famous and unknown who made it their home. The authors also explain in terms anyone can understand the laboratory advances that were adapted to telescopes to make them more powerful, and the conceptual breakthroughs that discoveries at the telescope helped bring about.
The men and women who went to the top of Mount Hamilton in search of greater knowledge of the skies helped to change our conception of the universe and our place in it . They were people with personal and political lives as well as scientific careers, and their story illuminates a time and a place where foundations were laid for the discoveries of the next century.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Donald E. Osterbrock, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is himself an astronomer in the Lick Observatory and directed it for eight years. He has published a book on the astrophysics of gaseous nebulae, as well as a biography of James E. Keeler, and is President-Elect of the American Astronomical Society.
James Lick was an eccentric 19th-century San Francisco millionaire who willed a portion of his estate to establish a great observatory in his name. In its early years, Lick Observatory was pre-eminent because of its 36-inch refractor telescope and mountain-top location. If one considers the enormous changes in astronomy over the past 100 years, it is remarkable that Lick Observatory is still active and major. This centennial history relates in enjoyable fashion the colorful life of James Lick and the contentious beginning of the observatory, continuing the detailed narrative up to the 1980s. Highly recommended for academic libraries and recommended for large public ones. Jack W. Weigel, Univ. of Michigan Lib., Ann Arbor
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 6.00
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Very Good - Crisp, clean, unread book with some shelfwear/edgewear, may have a remainder mark - NICE Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M0520268695Z2
Quantity: 13 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 1. Seller Inventory # 0520268695-2-3
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Very Good condition. Shows only minor signs of wear, and very minimal markings inside (if any). 1. Seller Inventory # 353-0520268695-vrg
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Fair. Buy with confidence! Book is in acceptable condition with wear to the pages, binding, and some marks within 1. Seller Inventory # bk0520268695xvz189zvxacp
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: PBShop.store US, Wood Dale, IL, U.S.A.
PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # WF-9780520268692
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 1. Seller Inventory # 353-0520268695-new
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Good condition. This is the average used book, that has all pages or leaves present, but may include writing. Book may be ex-library with stamps and stickers. 1. Seller Inventory # 353-0520268695-gdd
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 1. Seller Inventory # bk0520268695xvz189zvxnew
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: BargainBookStores, Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.
Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Eye on the Sky: Lick Observatory's First Century 1.06. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780520268692
Quantity: 5 available
Seller: Lucky's Textbooks, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580233984
Quantity: Over 20 available