Legitimating Astronomy
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George Harrison
COPYRIGHT 4th Estate An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thEstate.co.uk This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2020 Copyright © Craig Brown 2020 Cover design by Jack Smyth Cover image © Michael Ochs Archives/Handout/Getty Images Craig Brown asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008340001 Ebook Edition © April 2020 ISBN: 9780008340025 Version: 2020-03-11 DEDICATION For Frances, Silas, Tallulah and Tom EPIGRAPHS In five-score summers! All new eyes, New minds, new modes, new fools, new wise; New woes to weep, new joys to prize; With nothing left of me and you In that live century’s vivid view Beyond a pinch of dust or two; A century which, if not sublime, Will show, I doubt not, at its prime, A scope above this blinkered time. From ‘1967’, by Thomas Hardy (written in 1867) ‘What a remarkable fifty years they -
Invited Talks and Lectures
Invited Talks and Lectures Fundamental Problems in Planetary Science and Astrobiology 13th IAU-Abdul Jabbar Astronomy Workshop Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka, Bangladesh (November 6, 2020) Terrestrial Planet Formation in Modern Era: Current State and Future Direction Pathways to Habitability Bad Hofgastein, Austria (January 12-18, 2020) Life Stories; A Career in Planetology Keynote Presentation at EPSC-DPS 2019 Geneva, Switzerland (September 15, 2019) Planets in Binary Stars Institute of Physical Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (ICF-UNAM) Cuernavaca, Mexico (February 20, 2019) New Advances in the Formation of Terrestrial Planets National Institute for Space Research San Jose Campos, Brazil (October 2, 2018) Four Lectures on Exoplanet Formation and Kepler Telescope’s Discoveries 3rd Astrobiology School at the National Observatory of Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (October 1 – 5, 2018) Planet Formation: The Gateway to Astrobiology Keynote talk at the 3rd AbGradE Symposium Berlin, Germany (September 22 – 24, 2018) From Dust to Planets Summer School on the Formation and Evolution of Stars and Planets, the Early Solar System, and the Emergence of Life Vienna, Austria (August 17 – 18, 2018) Modern Simulations of Terrestrial Planet Formation and the Origin of Earth’s Water Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, Germany (June 7, 2018) Modern Simulations of Terrestrial Planet Formation and the Origin of Earth’s Water University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands (June 4, 2018) Modern Simulations -
Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists Author(S): Thomas F
Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists Author(s): Thomas F. Gieryn Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 48, No. 6 (Dec., 1983), pp. 781-795 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095325 . Accessed: 20/10/2014 20:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Sociological Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.173.127.127 on Mon, 20 Oct 2014 20:34:19 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOUNDARY-WORK AND THE DEMARCATION OF SCIENCE FROM NON-SCIENCE: STRAINS AND INTERESTS IN PROFESSIONAL IDEOLOGIES OF SCIENTISTS* THOMAS F. GIERYN Indiana University The demarcation of science from other intellectual activities-long an analytic problemfor philosophersand sociologists-is here examinedas a practicalproblem for scientists. Construction of a boundary between science and varieties of non-science is useful for scientists' pursuit of professional goals: acquisition of intellectual authority and career opportunities; denial of these resources to "pseudoscientists"; and protection of the autonomy of scientific research from political interference. -
50 Years of the Lovell Telescope Transcript
50 years of the Lovell telescope Transcript Date: Wednesday, 5 December 2007 - 12:00AM 50 YEARS OF THE LOVELL TELESCOPE Professor Ian Morison The Early days at Jodrell Bank In late 1945 Dr Bernard Lovell (as he then was) returned to Manchester University after working on the development of radar during the war years. His aim was to continue his researches into cosmic rays - highly energetic particles that enter the Earth's atmosphere from outer space. He had the idea that sporadic echoes sometimes received by military radars might be the result of cosmic rays entering the atmosphere and thus radar observations might provide a new way to continue his researches. Radar observations were not practical in the centre of Manchester so he took his ex-army radar system out to the University's Botanical Grounds at Jodrell Bank, some 20 miles to the south. By the middle of December 1945, the system was operating and his team was soon able to prove that the echoes were coming not from cosmic rays but from ionized meteor trails left behind when small particles, released from comets, are burnt up in the upper atmosphere of the Earth. Radar Antenna in the Botany Grounds. The Jodrell Bank Experimental Station. The observations continued and, to house the expanding staff and equipment, the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station was built in the field next to the Botanic Grounds. Lovell realised that a much more sensitive radio telescope would be required to detect cosmic rays and so, in 1947, the researchers built a large parabolic reflector, 66-m across, pointing upwards to observe the sky passing overhead. -
Planetary Diagrams — Descriptions, Models, Theories: from Carolingian Deployments to Copernican Debates
Planetary Diagrams — Descriptions, Models, Theories: from Carolingian Deployments to Copernican Debates Bruce Eastwood and Gerd Graßhoff Contents 1 Introduction . 1 2 The Beginnings in Carolingian Europe . 1 2.1 Astronomy and Computus before 800 . 1 2.2 Schools and Texts . 3 2.3 Diagrams and the Study of Texts . 7 2.4 Dynamics of Diagrams: Calcidius and Pliny . 7 2.5 Dynamics of Diagrams: Martianus Capella . 21 3 Qualitative Theory in the High and Later Middle Ages . 29 3.1 Dynamics of Diagrams: Construction of a Planetary The- ory............................ 29 3.2 The Capellan Tradition through the Fifteenth Century . 32 4 Merging Two Traditions: The Sixteenth Century . 37 1 INTRODUCTION Through three distinct periods from ca. 800 to ca. 1600 we find that European as- tronomers were concerned with questions about the planets that involved the dis- cussion and invention of models without quantitative expression. This qualitative tradition was first developed in the ninth century in the course of studying ancient Latin texts on cosmology and astronomy. The diagrams, used to represent different phenomena and aspects of planetary motion, continued as long as they were found useful for teaching, for exposing questions, or for proposing theoretical positions. The history of this tradition of planetary diagrams indicates a constant concern for qualitative theory and the co-existence of both qualitative and quantitative plane- tary theory after the introduction of the Greco-Arabic mathematical tradition of planetary astronomy in twelfth-century Europe. In the sixteenth century the same qualitative tradition continued as a source for approaches to new phenomena and problems. 2 THE BEGINNINGS IN CAROLINGIAN EUROPE 2.1 ASTRONOMY AND COMPUTUS BEFORE 800 From the sixth century to the twelfth century in Western Europe there was no direct influence of Greek works in the exact sciences. -
Fifi'; 11( from the Editor
S P R I N G 1 9 9 4 ammo CAN HE TRADITI OF HONESTY * SURVIVE DAY'S WORLD? fifi'; 11( From The Editor Rhode S (ISSN 40891-6446) is (From left) published tour times a year in spring, summer, Executive fall and winter by Rhodes College, 2000 N. Editor Helen Norman, Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. It is pub- Contributing lished as a service to all alumni, students, par- Editor Susan ents, faculty, staff and friends of the college. McLain Sullivan, Art Spring 1994 —Volume 1, Number I. Second Director Trey class postage paid at Memphis, Tennessee and Clark '89, additional mailing offices. and Editor Martha Hunter EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Helen Watkins Norman Shepard '66. EDITOR: Martha Hunter Shepard '66 Welcome to Rhodes, the magazine created especially for and about Rhodes Art Director: Trey Clark '89 alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff and students. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Susan McLain Like the Rhodes Today, which it replaces, the magazine will continue to keep Sullivan you informed about what's happening day to day on campus and in the lives of POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: our alumni. But it will also offer you the chance to sample a broader mix of Rhodes, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690. Rhodes-related articles and in greater depth than possible in the former publica- tion. The aim is for Rhodes to be more visually appealing as well, with an up-to- CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please mail the complet- ed form below and label from this issue of Rhodes date design (for which we thank Memphis designer Eddie Tucker) and an ample to: Alumni Office, Rhodes College, 2000 North serving of color photography. -
BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY* by W.M. O'neil Though the Modern Western
o BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY* By W.M. O'Neil Though the modern western world had heard of the Chaldaeans in the Old Testament as soothsayers and astrologers and students of Hellenistic astronomy knew of references to Babylonian observations of eclipses and the like, it is only during the last three quarters of a century but especially during the last half century that modern scholars, following the decipherment of the cuneiform writing on clay tablets, have begun to reveal the richness of Babylonian astronomy. They have, however, a long way yet to go. First, only a fraction of the materials scattered throughout the western world have been studied and interpreted. Fragments of the one tablet are sometimes in different museums; this adds to the difficulty. Second, the materials are usually fragmentary: a few pages torn from a book as it were or even only a few parts of pages (See Plate 1). Otto Neugebauer, perhaps the greatest scholar recently working on Babylonian astronomy, says that it is impossible yet to write an adequate history of Babylonian astronomy and suggests that it may never be possible. How many of the needed basic texts have crumbled into dust after acquisition by small museums unable to give them the needed care? , how many are lying unstudied in the multitudinous collections in the Middle East, in Europe and in North America? or are still lying in the ground?, are questions to which the answers are unknown. Nevertheless, through the work of Neugebauer, his predecessors and younger scholars taking over from him, some outlines of the history and the methods of Babylonian astronomy are becoming clearer. -
The Role of Project Science in the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Modeling, Systemes Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy II, edited by Martin J. Cullum & George Z. Angeli, Proc. SPIE 6271 (2006) The role of project science in the Chandra X-ray Observatory Stephen L. O’Dell a* & Martin C. Weisskopf a a NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NSSTC/VP62, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35805 ABSTRACT The Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's Great Observatories, has an outstanding record of scientific and technical success. This success results from the efforts of a team comprising NASA, its contractors, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the instrument groups, and other elements of the scientific community—including the thousands of scientists who utilize this powerful facility for astrophysical research. We discuss the role of NASA Project Science in the formulation, development, calibration, and operation of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. In addition to serving as an interface between the scientific community and the Project, Project Science performed what we term “science systems engineering”. This activity encompasses translation of science requirements into technical requirements and assessment of the scientific impact of programmatic and technical trades. We briefly describe several examples of science systems engineering conducted by Chandra Project Science. Keywords: Modeling and simulation, project management, project science, space observatories, x-ray astronomy 1. INTRODUCTION On 1999 July 23 4:31 UTC, NASA’s shuttle mission STS-93 launched (Figure 1) the Chandra X-ray Observatory. About 8 hours later, the orbiter Columbia deployed Chandra from its payload bay. Another hour later, the attached Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) fired and separated, sending Chandra toward a high elliptical orbit. -
Astronomy and Its Instruments Before and After Galileo
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION INAF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF PADOVA, ITALY ASTRONOMY AND ITS INSTRUMENTS BEFORE AND AFTER GALILEO Proceedings of the Joint Symposium held in Venice, San Servolo Island, Italy 28 September - 2 October 2009 Edited by LUISA PIGATTO and VALERIA ZANINI CONTENTS Preface xm OPENING CEREMONY WELCOME ADDRESSES KAREL A. VAN DER HUCHT, Opening address on behalf of the International Astronomical Union 3 ENRICO CAPPELLARO, INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy, welcome address 5 SESSION 1 GALILEO AND HIS TIME THE VENETIAN CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Chair: Il-Seong Nha GINO BENZONI, Culture and Science in Venice and Padova between the end of 16th and the beginning of 17th century (in Italian) 9 MICHELA DAL BORGO, The Arsenal of Venice at Galileo's time 29 LUISA PIGATTO, Galileo and Father Paolo. The improvement of the telescope 37 MAURO D'ONOFRIO AND CARLO BURIGANA, Questions of modern cosmology: a book to celebrate Galileo 51 SESSION 2 ASTRONOMY AND WORLD HERITAGE INITIATIVE Chair: Gudrun Wolfichmidt CLIVE RUGGLES, Implementing the Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative 65 KAREL A. VAN DER HUCHT, Memorandum of Understanding between the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Astronomy and World Heritage 69 VIII CONTENTS ILEANA CHINNICI, Archives and Astronomical Heritage 77 LUISA PIGATTO, Astronomical Instruments and World Heritage 81 GUDRUN WOLFSCHMIDT, Acknowledging the cultural and scientific values of properties connected with astronomy - observatories from the Renaissance to the 20th century 85 SESSION 3 ASTRONOMICAL STRUCTURES THROUGH THE AGES FROM STONE MONUMENTS TO MODERN OBSERVATORIES Chair: Clive Ruggles GEORG ZOTTI, Astronomical orientation of neolithic circular ditch systems (Kreisgrabenanlagen) 91 YONG BOK LEE, The alignment of dolmens and cup-marks on capstone as star map at Haman area in Korea 101 IL-SEONG NHA AND SARAH L. -
Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission
CAS® e SERIES Nummer 4 / 2010 Francesca Rochberg (Berkeley) Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission Herausgegeben von Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Center for Advanced Studies®, Seestr. 13, 80802 München www.cas.lmu.de/publikationen/eseries Nummer 4 / 2010 Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission Francesca Rochberg (Berkeley) In his astrological work the Tetrabiblos, the astronomer such as in Strabo’s Geography, as well as in an astrono- Ptolemy describes the effects of geography on ethnic mical text from Oxyrhynchus in the second century of character, claiming, for example, that due to their specific our era roughly contemporary with Ptolemy [P.Oxy. geographical location „The ...Chaldeans and Orchinians 4139:8; see Jones 1999, I 97-99 and II 22-23]. This have familiarity with Leo and the sun, so that they are astronomical papyrus fragment refers to the Orchenoi, simpler, kindly, addicted to astrology.” [Tetr. 2.3] or Urukeans, in direct connection with a lunar parameter Ptolemy was correct in putting the Chaldeans and identifiable as a Babylonian period for lunar anomaly Orchinians together geographically, as the Chaldeans, or preserved on cuneiform tablets from Uruk. The Kaldayu, were once West Semitic tribal groups located Babylonian, or Chaldean, literati, including those from in the parts of southern and western Babylonia known Uruk were rightly famed for astronomy and astrology, as Kaldu, and the Orchinians, or Urukayu, were the „addicted,” as Ptolemy put it, and eventually, in Greco- inhabitants of the southern Babylonian city of Uruk. He Roman works, the term Chaldean came to be interchan- was also correct in that he was transmitting a tradition geable with „astrologer.” from the Babylonians themselves, which, according to a Hellenistic Greek writers seeking to claim an authorita- Hellenistic tablet from Uruk [VAT 7847 obv. -
Newsletter 110 ª June 2002 NEWSLETTER
Newsletter 110 ª June 2002 NEWSLETTER The American Astronomical Societys2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Suite 400sWashington, DC [email protected] AAS NEWS PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Wallerstein is Anneila I. Sargent, Caltech, [email protected] My term as President of the American Astronomical Society Russell Lecturer will end with our meeting in Albuquerque in June 2002. Usually This year, the AAS this letter would be the appropriate place to consider my bestows its highest honor, expectations and goals when I took up the gavel and compare the Henry Norris Russell these with what actually happened. Lectureship on George The events of 11 September 2001 caused me to write that kind Wallerstein, Professor of reflective letter in the December issue of this Newsletter.I Emeritus of Astronomy at won’t repeat myself here except to note that at that time there the University of seemed to be less enthusiasm to fund research in the physical Washington. Wallerstein is sciences than we had grown to expect when I took office. recognized in the award citation for “...his As I write this column, the prospects look much less bleak. In contributions to our another part of this Newsletter, Kevin Marvel discusses how understanding of the astronomy fared in the President’s FY ’03 budget request. George Wallerstein of the University of NASA’s Office of Space Science is doing very well indeed. In Washington will deliver his Russell Lecture abundances of the at the Seattle Meeting in January 2003. elements in stars and fact, the OSS budget has been increasing steadily since 1996 and clusters. -
Maria Mitchell's Legacy to Vassar College: Then And
Library and Information Services in Astronomy IV July 2-5, 2002, Prague, Czech Republic B. Corbin, E. Bryson, and M. Wolf (eds) Maria Mitchell's Legacy to Vassar College: Then and Now Flora Grabowska Vassar College Libraries, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA fl[email protected] Abstract. Maria Mitchell became Vassar's first Astronomy Professor and Observatory Director in 1865. Her teaching emphasis on students learning by direct observation and analysis is continued today at Vassar College. Several of her students went on to prominence in astronomy, two of them succeeding her at Vassar. Astronomy majors today, both male and female, consistently achieve success after Vassar, in astronomy as well as in other fields. She encouraged her students to present their findings at scientific meetings and in scientific journals, also encouraged today as undergraduates co-author research papers with faculty members. She insisted on excellent facilities and built up the library collection, maintained today to a standard remarkable for a college of just under 2,500 undergraduate students. 1. Great Beginnings Matthew Vassar was keen to have female teachers at Vassar College (Haight 1916). Maria Mitchell had achieved world fame with her 1847 telescopic discov- ery of a comet and was an excellent choice, becoming Vassar's first astronomy professor in 1865. In a eulogy at her funeral in 1889, Vassar College President Taylor concluded, \She has been an impressive figure in our time, and one whose influence lives." (Taylor 1889) Henry Albers, Vassar's fifth Observatory director (the first male!), referring to our fine facilities today, wrote, \In keeping with the legacy of Maria Mitchell, these facilities enable today's students to learn and apply the most modern astronomical techniques." (Albers 2001, 329) This presentation aims to confirm that the legacy has been self-perpetuating and lives on.