Decoding the Stars : A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist

Ileana Chinnici

ISBN 10: 9004387293 / ISBN 13: 9789004387294

Published by Koninklijke Brill BV Jul 2019, 2019

About this Item

Neuware - Winner of the 2021 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical Astronomy In Decoding the Stars, Ileana Chinnici offers an account of the life of the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878). In addition to providing an invaluable account of Secchi's life and work--something that has been sorely lacking in the English-language scholarship--this biography will be especially stimulating for those interested in the evolution of astrophysics as a discipline from the nineteenth century onward. Despite his eclecticism, reminiscent of the natural philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Secchi was in many ways a very modern scientist: open to innovation and cooperation, and a promoter of popularization and citizen science. Secchi also appears fully inserted in the cultural context of his time: he participated in philosophical and scientific debates, spread new theories and ideas, but also suffered the consequences of political events that marked those years and impacted on his life and activities.

Seller Inventory # 9789004387294

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Decoding the Stars : A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist
• Publisher: Koninklijke Brill BV Jul 2019
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004387293
• ISBN 13: 9789004387294
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 155H x 22D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 22 millimeters depth
• Weight: 715 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Winner of the 2021 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical Astronomy

In Decoding the Stars, Ileana Chinnici offers an account of the life of the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878). In addition to providing an invaluable account of Secchi’s life and work―something that has been sorely lacking in the English-language scholarship―this biography will be especially stimulating for those interested in the evolution of astrophysics as a discipline from the nineteenth century onward. Despite his eclecticism, reminiscent of the natural philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Secchi was in many ways a very modern scientist: open to innovation and cooperation, and a promoter of popularization and citizen science. Secchi also appears fully inserted in the cultural context of his time: he participated in philosophical and scientific debates, spread new theories and ideas, but also suffered the consequences of political events that marked those years and impacted on his life and activities.

About the Author

Ileana Chinnici is an astronomer at the INAF-Palermo Astronomical Observatory and works in the field of the history of astrophysics. She has published books and articles in international journals, exploring historical archives related to scientific projects and scientists of the nineteenth century.