Empire and the Sun
Book description
Astronomy was a popular and important part of Victorian science, and British astronomers carried telescopes and spectroscopes to remote areas of India, the Great Plains of North America, and islands in the Caribbean and Pacific to watch the sun eclipsed by the moon. Examining the rich interplay between science, culture,…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Empire and the Sun as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love that this highly scholarly book on eclipses takes a completely different approach than other books on the subject. The book looks at expeditions to study total eclipses of the Sun organised by the major British scientific groups.
However, instead of focusing on their instruments and what observations they made, the author considers how the expeditions were planned and how the infrastructure of the British Empire was essential to the expeditions.
Relevant infrastructure included steamships and railroads that enabled astronomers to reach their destinations and telegraph lines to establish the correct time and relay their results.
From Nick's list on spectacles in nature total eclipses of the Sun.
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