The Victorian Space Program by Trudy E

The Victorian Space Program by Trudy E. Bell

HE VICTORIAN ERA WAS A HEYDAY of adven- Even if it were, it could be seen as total only from within a ture science. Botanists, geologists, naturalists, ge- narrow path swept from west to east by the tip of the dark- ographers, anthropologists, and other scientific est central cone of the moon’s shadow (the umbra). Although explorers fanned out into African deserts, Amazo- also thousands of miles long, the path of totality is always nian jungles, and Arctic ice packs, risking disease, less than 170 miles wide and is usually much narrower: disability, and death itself—all for samples of plants, visualize a string draped in an arc over a classroom globe. trocks, insects, spoken syllables, or even for one solitary Finally, from any one spot on the earth totality never lasts measurement (e.g., the ultimate source of the Nile). Their longer than seven-and-a-half minutes, and typically lasts isolated years in the wilds were financed not only by pri- only two or three. vate philanthropists, but also by gov- Upshot: good total eclipses of the ernments hungry for the international sun—defined as ones with more than prestige of having their countrymen be a minute of totality over accessible the first to find The Grand Answer (The Driven to learn land with decent weather prospects Grand Question, of course, depending as much as possible when the sun is relatively high in the on the scientific field). sky—occur only a few dozen times per Prominent among 19th-century sci- during the precious century. And in keeping with entific adventurers was a crowd now moments Murphy’s law, they are usually incon- surprisingly forgotten: solar astrono- veniently distant (the next total so- mers.1 of rare total lar eclipse visible from the continental Their quest? To be in the right spot eclipses of the sun, United States is 2017; the last one was at the right instant when the moon 19th-century astrono- 1979). passed exactly in front of the sun, com- The eclipse that riveted the atten- pletely blocking its blinding disk in a mers invented mas- tion of the world’s astronomers on the total solar eclipse. Only those rare pre- sive instruments and sun was that of July 7, 1842, when to- cious minutes of midnight at midday tality was predicted to sweep across the allowed observations that were then fielded expeditions south of densely populated continental impossible to obtain any other way. the technical equiva- Europe. When an expedition costing untold It’s essential to recall that early 19th dollars, months, and sweat is focused on lent of NASA’s space century astronomy was less about the observing a unique event shorter than missions cosmos than it was about using the 450 seconds with no second chance, a century later. heavens as a reference frame for the what are the highest priorities? earth. Astronomers tracked the posi- To use 21st-century terminology: tions and motions of the sun and moon maximizing the data rate and reliability. to check the mathematics of lunar or- Therein lie fascinating little-known bital theory for determining longitudes tales. Total-solar-eclipse expeditions in on both land and sea. the last half of the 19th century were the most advanced Astronomers realized that the route of the path of total- field expeditions of any science, technically equivalent to ity for the July 7, 1842, eclipse offered an unparalleled op- NASA’s planetary flybys or manned lunar landings a cen- portunity to correct longitudes of many European locales tury later. hundreds of miles apart and thereby to link isolated regional maps into a coherent whole. So that summer, the most dis- WHY TOTALITY? tinguished observers of Europe carried portable telescopes The international race for totality started in a classic inci- and clocks to southern France and northern Italy, after hav- dent of scientific serendipity. ing devoted months in training themselves how to time the Total solar eclipses are comparatively rare. Although four contacts: the precise instants the moon’s leading and the sun is partially eclipsed at least twice every year—an trailing edges would obscure and uncover the sun’s disk. event visible from an area thousands of miles wide and Well, serendipity has been defined as digging for fish- long—an eclipse may not be total anywhere on the earth. ing worms and striking gold. What astronomers actually

SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI 11 saw that clear summer day left them latitudes and longitudes, poring over con- stunned, as illustrated by the report of tradictory maps of little-known territo- British astronomer Francis Baily, a ries, and gathering information about founder of the Royal Astronomical Soci- weather odds. There were administrative ety, watching from a room in Pavia, Italy: matters of requesting appropriations from national governments to help finance I was astounded by a tremendous burst the expedition and to secure free passage of applause from the streets below, and at the same moment was electrified by on chartered trains or naval vessels. the sight of…the dark body of the Meanwhile, astronomers borrowed moon…suddenly surrounded by a special telescopes or cameras from other corona, or kind of bright glory…. But the observatories or invented observational most remarkable circumstance attend- instruments specifically for the expedi- ing this phenomenon was the appear- tion. Although every expedition had its ance of three large protuberances complement of tripod-mounted portable Fig. 1. apparently emanating from the circum- The wholly unexpected telescopes and meteorological stations, ference of the moon…[all] of the same the expedition’s centerpiece was usually appearance of brilliant roseate cast of colour and very distinct scarlet flame-like promi- from the brilliant vivid white light that some mammoth custom-built apparatus nences (“red protuber- formed the corona.2 [Baily’s emphasis] (more on this later). Since such precious ances”) and of the gossamer equipment could not be left exposed night silvery corona to so many In scientific journals, observers pub- and day to the elements—which could trained observers in lished exquisite hand-colored drawings include anything from hail to blowing southern Europe during the [Fig. 1] and clamored with questions: sand—there were temporary observato- total eclipse of the sun of What were those magnificent and wholly ries needed to house the instruments July 7, 1842 astounded unexpected marvels? Were they real or [Fig. 2], often involving concrete piers astronomers. Those some kind of optical illusion? If real, were phenomena—coupled with and foundations and (after about 1860) Samuel Heinrich Schwabe’s they part of the sun or the moon? What photographic darkrooms. announcement a year later caused them? And why were they visible Just as launching payloads to the of a periodicity of sun only when the sun was totally eclipsed? moon or planets is neither easy nor cheap, spots—launched the As news sped around the world, as- shipping crates of delicate apparatus to Victorian “space program” tronomers geared up to chase the moon’s Timbuktu required elaborate planning. of worldwide eclipse shadow wherever it might lead—no mat- To minimize weight, some clever astrono- expeditions, fully compa- ter how short the totality or how arduous mers designed the wooden packing crates rable in technical complexity the journey. themselves to serve as the bodies of the to NASA’s moon landings instruments at their destination. To and planetary flybys more LAUNCHING AN EXPEDITION economize on return freight charges, as- than a century later. The average 19th-century eclipse expedi- tronomers commonly abandoned all but Source: Plate labeled “Biela in tion was a very big deal, with striking par- the optics and precision mounting gears Padua,” frontispiece to O. M. allels to the monumental logistics of at the observing site after the eclipse, just Mitchel’s Sidereal Messenger, sending astronauts to the moon today. as the Apollo astronauts abandoned vol. 1, no. 3, September 1846 One to four years in advance, astrono- landers and rovers on the moon. Al- (opposite p. 17). mers began laboriously hand-calculating though some tried to improvise with lo-

Fig. 2. Temporary observatories for total solar eclipse expeditions, such as this wooden building erected in Des Moines, IA, for the eclipse of August 7, 1869, were often quite elaborate. This building, used by U.S. Army Assistant Surgeon Brevet Major Edward Curtis, an officer skilled in photography, and his assistants, measured 16 x 32 feet, the long dimension oriented nearly north-south. A southern room 16 x 25 feet under the retractable roof sheltered several astronomical telescopes (note the observers and instruments); the northern quarter (invisible behind the partition and under the wooden roof) was a 7 x 16-foot ventilated photographic darkroom complete with indoor plumbing for processing wet collodion plates. During the eclipse, Curtis and his three assistants were among the first to photograph the sun’s faint outer corona. Source: Plate I from “Report of Dr. Edward Curtis, U.S.A.,” Appendix II. Reports on the Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869, U.S. Naval Observatory.

12 SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI cal materials as much as possible—such as using bags of native sand and gravel as counterweights—others took no chances, carrying their own bricks, cement, and pre-cut numbered lumber. Then there was the whole question of life support for one to seven months. Many times, observers were venturing into lands that were not only remote, but also so barren they could scarcely feed an in- digenous population (which also might be ravaged by plague or fever). As astronauts a century later, Victorian astronomers hauled all the food they anticipated needing. They packed large canvas tents Source: Page 126 from as temporary living quarters for them- “Report of Dr. Edward selves, their observing assistants, and— Curtis, U.S.A.,” on particularly long expeditions, even Appendix II. Reports on their wives and children—plus kitchen the Observations of the help and other support personnel. Al- Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869, U.S. though most eclipse expeditions ranged Naval Observatory. from a solitary astronomer to a commu- nity of several dozen observers and assistants, plus unnumbered local volunteers ing two muleteers and eight mules, they recruited after arrival, the single largest set out westward. Over the next week, 19th century expedition (led by British as- they slogged nearly 200 miles across: Fig. 3. A close-up in the interior of tronomer Sir Norman Lockyer to the Des Moines temporary a desert of sand, which is so drifted by Viziadrug, India, for the eclipse of Janu- observatory shows the the strong daily winds that the mule ary 11, 1898) totaled 150 individuals. equipment that captured paths are obliterated almost as soon as Getting to the destination port or train more than 100 wet made, and the traveller [sic] finds his station, although covering most of the collodion photographs of way by the tall stakes that have been mileage, was often the least of the effort. the sun’s outer corona for planted and the skeletons of animals the first time in 1869. For example, the 35-day, 7,500-mile ocean that have died on the road from heat and The telescope, the main voyage of Edward Singleton Holden’s thirst. 4 Lick Observatory expedition from Cali- refractor of the U.S. Naval Academy made by Alvan fornia to Caroline Island for the eclipse of CAPTURING PICTURES ON THE FLY May 6, 1883 was delightfully uneventful. Clark & Sons in 1857, had a As a spacecraft’s close-up images of an lens of 7.75 inches in But owing to a shallow, rugged coral reef alien world is the crucial reward for the diameter and a focal length encircling the entire island, the naval sail- cost and effort in launching a mission to of 9.5 feet (f/14.7). Mounted ing ship Hartford could find no safe an- fly by a distant planet, photographs of the at the eye end was a camera chorage closer than half a mile from shore. eclipsed sun were the only tangible prod- box for holding the dripping Thus, the heavy crates with their delicate uct of a 19th-century eclipse expedition photographic plates onto instrumentation had to be heaved onto the halfway around the world. And just as a which was projected the backs of the ship’s men, who splashed spacecraft flying by a planet has only one sun’s image. The observer 2,700 feet through knee-deep surf over chance to grab data, on an eclipse expedi- (presumably Edward Curtis 3 in the picture) is in the act glass-sharp coral to the beach. tion 19th-century expeditionary astrono- of timing an exposure with Despite the best-laid plans, local mers had only one chance before the moon weather patterns sometimes forced an un- a chronometer (strapped to inexorably continued past the sun. the tripod). On the wall anticipated change in site. Lt. James M. Although the camera was turned sky- behind the telescope and Gilliss of the U.S. Coast Survey, in a some- ward as soon as it was invented around chronometer are the small what impromptu and modest two-man ex- 1840, photography did not immediately doors of the dumbwaiters pedition to Payta, Peru, for the single supplant eyeball astronomy. The poison- that communicated with the minute of totality during the dawn eclipse ous copper-mercury daguerrotype pro- darkroom, through which of September 7, 1858, arrived several cess was far too slow, insensitive, and the observer received and weeks early. When eight days in Payta temperamental to be scientifically useful passed wet photographic yielded only one sunrise clear to the east- (the first daguerrotype of the moon in 1852 plates for exposure and developing. ward, Gilliss and his sole companion real- required an exposure of half an hour to ized they had to move inland into the record an image an inch across). By 1860, Andes to escape morning coastal fog. Hir- the daguerrotype had been made sensi-

SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI 13 tive enough to photograph the “red pro- exposure, and put the exposed plate into tuberances” during the total solar eclipse a second dumbwaiter and send it back to of July 18—the moon’s motion across them the darkroom; and a fourth to develop, evident in a sequence of images that wash, and fix each exposed plate [Fig. 3]. proved the prominences (as they are now Tainted local water was a perpetual called) were part of the sun. headache for eclipse chasers who devel- The fainter silvery corona, however, oped their plates in camp, sometimes eluded astronomical photographers until leaving fine silt or indelible black spots the eclipse of August 7, 1869. The break- on precious negatives. Moreover, in the through was the development of a signifi- tropics, the same heat and humidity that cantly more sensitive photographic molded clothes and shoes overnight process: wet collodion. caused photographic chemicals—al- Collodion was a colorless, semi-viscous though sealed by the manufacturer—to fluid produced by dissolving guncotton in absorb so much moisture that what was a mixture of alcohol and ether; when im- originally a fine powder caked into a solid pregnated with silver salts, it was ren- mass, which could only be broken up by dered susceptible to light. When spread first breaking the glass bottle. upon glass, the fluid formed a transpar- After the invention of dry plates in the ent membrane. Although much faster 1870s (a direct forerunner of modern than the daguerrotype, the wet collodion film), the reliability of the photographic process required that each plate had to be process itself was a risk. For example, Fig. 4 made just before use, had to remain wet during the eclipse of July 29, 1878, none Pneumatic commutator and during the entire exposure, and had to be of the scores of exposed photographic battery of instruments was developed immediately afterward—all of plates independently taken by Joseph A. invented by Amherst which required a physical facility com- Rogers and Simon Newcomb and sent to College Observatory plete with ventilation and running water. the U.S. Naval Observatory for develop- director David Peck Todd In desert or jungle conditions, eclipse ex- ment two weeks later had any image at and mounted at Cape Ledo, Africa, for the total solar peditions’ temporary darkrooms invented all. eclipse of December 22, for wet-plate photography were impres- 1889. In all, 23 telescopes sive improvisations, especially since in- MAXIMIZING THE YIELD (principally photographic) door plumbing then was rare, even in the Even after emulsion speed had improved were attached to a massive wealthiest homes. For example, the dark- to the point where useful images could clock-driven polar axis and room by U.S. Army surgeon Edward be captured in exposures as short as a pointed parallel to each Curtis in Des Moines, IA, for the 1869 second, astronomers still sought ways of other toward the sun. eclipse consisted of: maximizing the scientific yield during to- Exhaust air currents through tality. The usual technique was carrying seven negative baths, standing in a long pneumatic tubes, connected a dozen or more portable or semi-portable with each telescope and trough filled with water to keep them photographic plate-holder, cool, a sink composed of a common telescopes, and then drafting local volun- were controlled by a slowly wash-tub with an India rubber waste- teers to operate a camera for each tele- moving perforated sheet of pipe attached, a barrel of water stand- scope with strict discipline. paper similar to the music ing on a platform outside the building But during the eclipse of August 19, sheets used in automatic with a pipe closed by a stopcock pro- 1887, in Japan, inventive Amherst Col- organs or player pianos, jecting through the wall, a large fixing- lege Observatory director David Peck exposing more than 300 bath composed of a wooden trough with Todd was struck by a novel idea: why photographic plates. grooved sides like a negative rack, ca- couldn’t a whole battery of telescopes be pable of holding one hundred and fifty pneumatically controlled by some auto- plates and filled with a very weak so- Source: Page 361 from Stars matic mechanism instead? For the eclipse and Telescopes by David P. lution of hyposulphite of soda. 5 of December 22, 1889, he tested his idea Todd (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1899). How many astronomers does it take to in West Africa [Fig. 4]. The pneumatic capture a wet-collodion photograph of the apparatus proving bulky, however, David eclipsed sun? Four, in the case of Curtis’ Todd resolved to use electricity instead expedition: one to coat each glass plate when planning another expedition to Ja- and put it into the bath; a second to take pan for the eclipse of August 9, 1896. it out, wipe its back, place it into a holder, Then began shaping up perhaps the and pass it from the darkroom to Curtis weirdest apparatus ever to point at the in the observatory by a light-tight dumb- sun: the Amherst machine [Fig. 5]. waiter; Curtis himself to position the drip- The electric Amherst machine con- ping plate holder in the camera at the end sisted of 20 telescopes borrowed from ev- of the telescope, draw the slide, time the ery institution and individual with whom

14 SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI Todd had connections. Endless chains of plate-holders of different sizes were rigged to pass behind each of the telescopes at varying speeds. The exposure time for each plate was controlled by another Todd invention, an electric commutator that consisted of “a slowly revolving copper cylinder full of pins, each of which repre- sented a certain movement of one particular instrument at a given fraction of a second.” 6 As the cylinder rotated, each pin touched an appropriate metal tooth, closing a circuit that set in motion a particular instrument at a prearranged instant. To compensate for the motion of the earth during the eclipse, Todd bolted all the telescopes with their cameras to a central frame, which was in turn mounted onto heavy polar axis. In West Africa, Todd had made his first pneumatic system track the sun by means of a sand magnification of the planets, but short clock, in which “a heavy weight resting enough for the telescope to be housed in a Fig. 5. on a tube of sand slides gently down, as reasonably compact dome and not to flex Todd’s electric Amherst the sand runs out below at a uniform rate, and jiggle when it was moved from one ce- machine, shown at center hour-glass fashion.” But sand proved not lestial object to the next. in its temporary smooth enough for controlling long expo- Winlock, however, wanted to get rid observatory building with hinged roof open, shot of the eyepiece, as he suspected it might sures, so for Japan in 1896 Todd used a more than 400 photo- column of glycerine. dim or distort the image of the gossamer graphs during two The result on E-day? In two minutes corona. Now, Winlock happened to have minutes and 40 seconds and 40 seconds of totality, the Amherst at Harvard a four-inch lens with the re- of totality during the machine exposed more than 400 photo- markably long focal length of 40 feet— August 9, 1896, eclipse in graphs—a phenomenal vindication of au- that is, a focal ratio of f/120. He knew it Esahi, Japan. Endless chains tomation for productivity. would be hopelessly ungainly to mount of photographic plates of such a long, skinny telescope in mid-air different sizes passed MAGNIFYING THE VIEW to track the sun. So he elected not to through the focal plane of Not only did solar astronomers want as move the telescope at all. Instead, he laid each of its 20 telescopes at varying rates of speed. many images of the eclipsed sun as pos- it horizontally on the ground—a scheme The exposure times for all sible, they wanted them big for close-up he called a “heliostat” (now called a photo- 20 instruments were views of the detailed structure of the heliograph). controlled by a slowly prominences and corona. Although sev- Specifically, Winlock fixed the four- revolving copper cylinder eral 19th-century astronomers had sug- inch lens vertically on a pier outdoors, so full of pins; each pin, as it gested using long-focus lenses specifically it would focus light through a long hori- passed along, touched its for viewing the sun, Harvard College Ob- zontal tin and canvas tube into the appropriate metal tooth, servatory director Joseph C. Winlock was observatory’s darkroom. Sunlight was closing an electrical circuit the first to come up with a scheme that directed into the four-inch lens by reflect- that set in motion some was practical and cheap. ing off a movable plane mirror (uncoated particular instrument at a As with a camera, a telescope’s magni- and wedge-shaped to discard most of the prearranged instant. The entire framework carrying fication is directly proportional to the focal sun’s heat). In the darkroom, an astrono- all 20 instruments was ratio of its objective (main) lens or mirror— mer would pull the slide off a photo- driven by an hour-glass- that is, the ratio of the distance needed for graphic plate and then shout to an like glycerine clock to focusing an image to the objective’s diam- assistant 40 feet away at the lens; the follow the sun. eter (aperture). The larger the focal ratio, assistant then released what was essen- the greater the magnification, that is, the tially a rubber-band-powered or Source: Plate opposite larger the image produced at the objective’s windowshade shutter—a slit that page 10, Corona and focus. An eyepiece then magnifies that prin- snapped quickly across the lens for a Coronet, by Mabel Loomis cipal-focus image still farther. In the 19th split-second exposure. 7 Todd (Boston and New century, the average focal ratio of a refract- In 1870, Winlock first gave his novel York: Houghton, Mifflin, & ing (lens) telescope was about f/15—long horizontal solar telescope a go at Jerez de Co., 1899) enough with an eyepiece to give decent la Frontera, Spain, during the eclipse of

SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI 15 Source: Plate II from “The 1900 Solar Eclipse Expedition of the Astrophysical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institution,” by S.P. Langley, Director, No. 1439 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904)

December 22. From then on, photohelio- CO, for the eclipse of July 29, 1878. Be- Fig. 6. graphs rapidly became standard equip- fore he departed, he had received “a let- The longest focal-length ment on eclipse expeditions, their ter from General Myer, of the Signal photoheliograph used for black-canvas walls snaking across the Service, inviting me to accept the hospi- photographing the inner ground becoming the dominant landmark talities of the station” there, where the corona during a 19th-century of any eclipse camp. observers would be “under a roof with eclipse expedition was that Many astronomers had their own ideas shelter for the instruments.” 9 used by Samuel Pierpont for modifying Winlock’s basic design. Instead, after a grueling 18-mile climb Langley of the Smithsonian Some kept the telescope horizontal but with mules lugging a ton of precious Astrophysical Observatory fitted the plane mirror with a clock drive equipment to the blustery summit, foot- during the total solar eclipse of May 28, 1900, which he to track the sun automatically. Others— sore Langley discovered that “owing to observed from Wadesboro, notably John M. Schaeberle of Lick Ob- no orders for our reception having been NC. The lens, borrowed servatory in his many single-handed sent from the Signal Office at Washing- from the Harvard College eclipse expeditions in the 1880s and ton… there was no room for us in the Sig- Observatory, had a diameter 1890s—did away with the plane mirror, nal Service station on the summit, but a of 12 inches and a focal inventing elaborate frameworks and dig- tent would be pitched.” length of 135 feet (f/135) ging deep pits for propping his 40-foot- Easier said than done. Although the projected through the long tube at a high angle to point directly summit was a plain of several acres, it was horizontal white tube at the sun, and swiveling the photo- littered with so many “sharp-edged and shown in the right two- graphic-plate holder along an arc to track fractured bowlders of granite of every thirds of the photograph. It 8 projected an image of the the sun. Still other astronomers built size” that “the mounting of instruments or moon 15-3/8 inches across truly huge photoheliographs, the record- even the pitching of tents, at first sight, on photographic plates holder being one with a lens 12 inches in seemed hardly possible.” As there was no measuring 30 by 30 inches, diameter and a tube 135 feet long, large level ground or rock large enough for a tent manipulated in a darkroom enough for an astronomer to stand inside floor, Langley laid firewood logs between (black rectangle near the and to expose glass photographic plates boulders, spread on them a sack of hay for photo’s right edge). Also measuring 30 inches on a side [Fig. 6]. each man, and rolled up in blankets—some using that darkroom was a mornings awakening to find themselves shorter photoheliograph ENGINEERING OUT OF TROUBLE covered with 10 inches of snow that had having a five-inch lens of 38 Just as astronauts and mission controllers blown into the tents overnight. feet focus (whose tube is have had to rely on their wits to save lu- Langley’s equipment, as abandoned canted upward at the far right). A third photoheli- nar and planetary missions, rough field by his unwilling porters, was heavy and ograph (61.5 feet long) at conditions often demanded ingenuity to bulky. The main astronomical instru- the left belongs to a save an eclipse expedition—essential as ments were a horizontal heliostat tele- neighboring camp set up by there was no way for Victorian expedi- scope with an objective lens five inches Yerkes Observatory. tionary astronomers to radio “Houston, in diameter and a focal length of 38 feet, we’ve got a problem.” plus a separate five-inch refracting tele- Nowhere better is that illustrated than scope that strained the definition of por- by Samuel Pierpont Langley’s expedition table by weighing in at nearly 1,000 to the 14,110-foot summit of Pike’s Peak, pounds disassembled into five cases.

16 SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI Worst of all, at the moment of his arrival, can extend more than five million miles “the rain poured freely…upon the boxes away from the sun [Fig. 7]. which lay in the wet,” threatening to rust the instruments right in their cases. In des- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED peration, Langley assembled the portable In the 77 years between 1842 and 1919— refractor and mounted it in the open air at solar eclipses whose collective time of near the hut. Then, “[p]rocuring some lard totality scarcely summed one hour—ex- from the kitchen, I covered every part of peditionary astronomers discovered the the steel-work with it, and wrapped the in- element helium in the sun, decades be- strument in a piece of canvas.” fore it was identified on the earth. They Setting up the heliostat among the boul- discovered the sun’s chromosphere—a ders required even greater ingenuity. scarlet intermediate layer of the solar at- Luckily, Langley’s principal expedition mosphere out of which leap the ruby partner was his brother John W. Langley, flame-like prominences—a discovery a chemistry professor at the University that led to finding chromospheres around Trudy E. Bell , who has of Michigan, who had previously taught other stars, essential in the understand- chased five total eclipses of physics and built astronomical instru- ing of stellar structure and evolution. the sun to locations ranging ments. But John’s principal asset, Samuel They proved the ghostly corona was the from the Arctic to the noted prophetically, was that he “was a sun’s rarefied outer atmosphere, and better coadjutor than any other I knew documented how its streamers dramati- Sahara, has an M.A. in the for an expedition to a point where we were cally changed size and shape depending history of science and to be cut off from all external aid and left on the level of solar activity (the sunspot American intellectual to our own resources.” In other words, cycle). And in 1919, expeditionary as- history from New York John was a good man to have in a tight tronomers’ photographs of stars near the University (1978). spot. limb of the sun, visible only during the A former editor for And he proved his worth. To support fleet moments of totality’s darkness, veri- Scientific American (1971-78) the heliostat’s ungainly 41-foot-long tube, fied a key prediction of Einstein’s gen- and IEEE Spectrum (1983- John improvised four piers from sticks and eral theory of relativity: that starlight 97), she is the author of six stones. For each pier, he spiked lengths would be bent by the sun’s strong gravi- books and more than 300 of firewood between the boulders and tied tational field. articles both on travel and their ends to form a hollow square cage, With each succeeding eclipse expedi- on the physical sciences and which he filled with rocks. Across the top tion, astronomers’ equipment grew more technology. Her latest two he laid short planks—a structure that elaborate, bigger, and heavier, eventually books are Engineering “rendered the whole admirably firm.” topping out at more than 15 tons of appa- Tomorrow: Today’s Technology Cleverly, he also thought to mount the ratus shipped from California’s Lick Ob- Experts Envision the Next optics separately from the support struc- servatory to Australia in 1919. While Century (with Dave Dooling ture for the canvas tube “so that the vi- some instruments were unique and can- and Janie Fouke, IEEE Press, brations from this long structure, which tankerous artifacts that survive only in 2000) and Bicycling With exposed a large surface to the wind, could diagrams and photographs in dusty Children: A Complete How-To not be communicated to the apparatus tomes (such as the Amherst machine), Guide (The Mountaineers, which produced the solar image.” others became standard astronomical All this improvisation demanded days tools (such as the photoheliograph). 1999). Her previous article of “labor of much hardship,” owing not While 19th-century technology allowed for THE BENT was “The only to “scanty material” but also to ex- eclipse expeditions to harvest the most Victorian Global Positioning posure and altitude sickness that left the data per second, solar astronomers craved System” (Spring 2002). men gasping for breath and suffering far more face time with the sun’s elusive “constant and severe headache, and layers. By the late 19th century, British and She may be reached at nearly every symptom which attends sea- French astronomers simultaneously in- [email protected] and sickness.” vented techniques for photographing the http://home.att.net/ But the rewards were well worth the sun’s chromosphere and prominences sans ~trudy.bell. hardships. With his naked eyes during eclipse. And by the 1930s, the French in- the eclipse, Langley saw that the outer vention of the coronagraph revealed the solar corona extended “considerably sun’s outer corona at will. more than a solar diameter in width, and Astronomers rejoiced. No longer did it was now visible to fully 12 diameters they need to launch colossal, costly pil- in length. …[i]t was evident that I was grimages thousands of miles for a witnessing a real phenomenon heretofore minute’s fleeting rendezvous with sun undescribed.” His observations were the and moon. Now they could study an arti- first to document that the outer corona ficially eclipsed sun every clear day.

SPRING 2003 T H E B ENT OF TAU BETA PI 17 Freed from the tyranny On the other hand, with the 20 th of totality, the Victorian century’s development of commercial air space program and its he- travel, no longer is a total solar eclipse the roic eclipse expeditions sole province of a few hardy scientists. came to an end. Today commercial eclipse-trip organizers To be sure, through the charter airplane flights and luxury first half of the 20th century “cruises into darkness” as learning vaca- some observatories and the National tions for amateur astronomers and pay- Fig. 7 Geographic Society continued to fund ing tourists. This drawing by Samuel Pierpont modest expeditions—largely to re-verify But don’t be fooled by the change in cli- Langley of totality during the observational evidence of Einstein’s pre- entele. Although physical adventure and in- solar eclipse of July 29, 1878, first diction of the bending of starlight (an genuity are no longer prerequisites for documented the fact that the experiment still more easily done in the chasing the moon’s shadow, undiminished sun’s outer corona can extend field). But technology had irrevocably di- is the magnificent grandeur of a celestial tens of millions of miles from the sun. From his vantage point at an minished professional astronomers’ need rendezvous of sun and moon that in 1842 elevation of 14,110 feet atop for total solar eclipses. launched the Victorian space program . Pike’s Peak in Colorado, Langley recorded that “making an angle of about 45° with the vertical,” REFERENCES the corona extended “three to 1 For just a few examples on how general histo- 6 Todd, Mabel Loomis, Corona and Coronet (Bos- three and one-half [solar] ries of scientific expeditions concentrate on bi- ton and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., diameters below and towards ologists, botanists, geologists, and naturalists 1899); relevant passages describing the Amherst the right. …Upon the opposite while overlooking astronomers, see Peter Raby’s machine appear on pp. 10–12 and 278–279. See also side of the sun, …the light Bright Paradise: Victorian Scientific Travellers David P. Todd, Stars and Telescopes (Boston: (Princeton U]cientific expeditions in Eric J. Little, Brown, & Co., 1899), pp. 360–364. stretched further into space to Leed’s The Mind of the Traveler: From the extent of six diameters.” As Gilgamesh to Global Tourism (Basic Books, 1991). 7 A history of Winlock’s invention of the first prac- his eyes became accustomed to tical photoheliograph appears in the Annals of the the dimness of the light, he 2 Quoted in Eclipses of the Sun by S.A. Mitchell Harvard College Observatory, vol. VIII, Part I revised that estimate to “fully 12 (New York: Columbia University Press, second (Cambridge, 1876), pp. 35–41, 56ff. Its work is also diameters in length.” Moreover, edition, 1924), pp. 132–133; this classic book is still briefly mentioned in Solon I. Bailey’s The History th he was convinced that the 12 the most comprehensive history of 19 - and early and Work of Harvard Observatory (New York and 20th-century eclipse expeditions. London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1931), p. 53. solar diameters “were but a portion of its extent” (Langley’s 3 [Edward S. Holden] “Report of the Operations 8 Eddy, John A., “The Schaeberle 40-ft Eclipse italics). of American Expedition to Observe the Total Camera of Lick Observatory,” Journal for the His- Eclipse, 1883, May 6, at Caroline Island, South tory of Astronomy, vol. 2, part 1, February 1971, Source: Plate 10 and pp. 207–208, Pacific Ocean,” Memoirs of the National Acad- pp. 1–22. “Report of Professor S. P. emy of Sciences, vol. II. 1883. Washington: Gov- Langley,” Reports on the Total Solar ernment Printing Office. 1884, pp. 17–18. 9 “Report of Professor S. P. Langley,” Reports on Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and the Total Solar Eclipses of July 29, 1878, and Janu- 4 January 11, 1880. United States Gilliss, Lieut. J.M., “An Account of the Total ary 11, 1880. United States Naval Observatory. Eclipse of the Sun on September 7, 1858, as Ob- Washington Observations for 1876.—Appendix III. Naval Observatory. Washington served near Olmos, Peru.” Smithsonian Contri- Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880. For Observations for 1876.— butions to Knowledge, January 1859, p. 3. a vivid account of tenacity in the face of hardship, Appendix III. Washington: Langley’s whole account (pp. 203–217) makes fas- Government Printing Office, 5 “Report of Dr. Edward Curtis, U.S.A.” Appen- cinating reading. 1880. dix II. Reports on Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869. U.S. Naval Ob- servatory, 1870, p. 127.

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