From Earth-bound to satellite : : telescopes, skills, and networks / / edited by Alison D. Morrison-Low ... [et al.].

• Superior document: History of science and medicine library ; v. 23
• TeilnehmendeR: Morrison-Low, A. D.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: History of science and medicine library ; v. 23.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The volume forms a part of the celebrations marking the anniversary of the invention of the telescope. From its Renaissance beginnings to yesterday’s Cold War, the essays contributed here throw a spotlight on a number of significant episodes in the continuing adventures of this well-loved instrument, which has played a crucial role in Man’s thinking about his position – literally and philosophically – in the universe. Drawn from various conferences held by the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science between 2007 and 2009, these papers make a substantial contribution to our current knowledge about this fascinating optical instrument.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Galileo’s Shopping List: An Overlooked Document about Early Telescope Making / Giorgio Strano -- Johann Wiesel’s Telescopes and his Clientele / Inge Keil -- The ‘Invisible Technician’ Made Visible: Telescope Making in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth-century Dutch Republic / Huib J. Zuidervaart -- The Art of Polishing: Practice and Prose in Eighteenth-century Telescope Making / Jim A. Bennett -- Networks of Telescope Makers and the Evolution of Skill: Evidence from Observatory and Museum Collections / Gloria Clifton -- Scoping Longitude: Optical Designs for Navigation at Sea / Richard Dunn -- Following the Stars: Clockwork for Telescopes in the Nineteenth Century / James Caplan -- Telescopes Made in Berlin: From Carl Bamberg to Askania / Gudrun Wolfschmidt -- Wide-Field Photographic Telescopes: The Yale, Harvard and Harvard/Smithsonian Meteor and Satellite Camera Networks / Teasel Muir-Harmony , David H. DeVorkin and Peter Abrahams -- The Making of Space Astronomy: A Gift of the Cold War / Robert W. Smith -- General Index -- Colour Plates I–XIII.