The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images through History

Stephenson, Bruce; Bolt, Marvin; Friedman, Anna Felicity

ISBN 10: 052179143X / ISBN 13: 9780521791434

Published by Cambridge University Press / Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Cambridge, 2000

About this Item

Square 8vo (24 × 24 cm), 152 pp. Publisher?s cloth, dust jacket (minor shelf wear). A richly illustrated volume drawn entirely from the internationally renowned History of Astronomy collections of the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, assembled over many decades largely through the efforts of the late Roderick Webster and Marjorie Webster, to whom the book is dedicated. The work presents a visual and interpretative survey of humanity?s changing understanding of the cosmos from the late fifteenth to the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the transition from geocentric to heliocentric cosmologies, and on the development of observational and representational instruments. The book is organised thematically into four main sections: Discovering Space, which explores celestial observation through constellations, quadrants, comets, navigational instruments, and telescopes; Discovering Time, covering sundials, nocturnals, astrolabes, and calendrical systems; Understanding the Earth, addressing terrestrial globes, maps, surveying instruments, clocks, and astrological traditions; and Understanding the Heavens, which traces conceptual and visual models of the universe from Ptolemy through Newton to Herschel, including celestial globes, star charts, armillary spheres, and orreries. Supplementary material includes a glossary, astronomical appendix, further reading, list of illustrations, and index. The volume features high-quality colour reproductions of instruments, manuscripts, atlases, and portraits, offering both scholarly insight and visual richness. An accessible yet authoritative reference for the history of astronomy and scientific instruments.

Seller Inventory # 009875

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images through History
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press / Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 052179143X
• ISBN 13: 9780521791434
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science
  • Scientific instruments

About this title

Synopsis

The search for understanding creates more than answers; it also produces instruments, books, maps, and other tools made and used by those seeking knowledge. The Universe Unveiled uniquely focuses on these artifacts and devices resulting from the attempts to decipher the Universe from the late fifteenth to the early twentieth century. Beautiful, full-color photographs capture these extremely rare and sometimes unusual curios. Beginning with the discovery of ways to keep time, The Universe Unveiled depicts the shift from an Earth-centered understanding of the Universe to a Sun-centered view, the mapping of the stars, and the ever-expanding knowledge of the heavens using telescopes. It also examines the developing technologies of navigation and of the measuring and mapping of the Earth. In addition to rare European curios, the book is illustrated with non-Western and American works. With more than 250 full-color images, this unique volume will delight the inventive as well as the curious.

About the Authors

Bruce Stephenson is Curator and Director of the History of Astronomy Department at Chicago's Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago, where he holds a position of visiting scholar in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He is the author of Kepler's Physical Astronomy and of The Music of the Heavens: Kepler's Harmonic Astronomy, both published by Princeton University Press. He belongs to numerous professional organizations relating to the history of science, astronomy and scientific instrumentation. He is currently studying the metallurgical characteristics of astrolabes in a high-energy X-ray beam at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

Marvin Bolt is Associate Curator of the History of Astronomy Department at Chicago's Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum. He has a Ph.D. in Intellectual History and History & Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame, where he concurrently holds the position of visiting scholar. In addition to working on the Adler's catalogue of optical instruments and publishing his dissertation on Sir John Herschel, he continues to research the social context of 19th century astronomy. He is a member of the History of Science Society and the William Herschel Society.

Anna Friedman is Assistant Curator of the History of Astronomy Department at Chicago's Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum. She has an M.A. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism, and a B.F.A. in Painting, from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has written Awestruck by the Majesty of the Heavens (Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 1997) and is currently writing the Adler's catalogue of star charts.