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This book tells the inside story of Germany's first contributions to space research by experiments with artificial plasma clouds in space. In this autobiography, Gerhard Haerendel, former director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, describes his 60 adventurous years in space research. The narrative of exciting events-covering 40 years of rocket and satellite work-is underpinned with accessible accounts of the actual physical phenomena and processes involved. The reader also learns about how the goals set by a visionary astrophysicist eventually led to one of Germany's first major contributions to space research by the creation of artificial comets in the solar wind. Haerendel's efforts also led to two further satellite programs, one in partnership with Sweden, focusing on the aurora borealis, the other, a national German endeavor, to explore the outer border of the magnetosphere. A further interesting chapter concerns his engagement in the evaluation and restructuring of eastern German Academy institutes after reunification. All readers interested in space research and its history will enjoy sharing the fascinating experiences and dramatic events that accompany the story throughout, even some spectacular failures relating to rocket campaigns.
Pure sciences. Natural sciences (general) --- Space research --- Astronomy --- Engineering sciences. Technology --- History --- wetenschapsgeschiedenis --- geschiedenis --- technologie --- ruimte (astronomie) --- ruimtevaart --- Astronomer --- Physicists --- Astrophysicists. --- Astrophysics. --- Haerendel, Gerhard.
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The intention of this book is to shine a bright light on the intellectual context of Euler's contributions to physics and mathematical astronomy. Leonhard Euler is one of the most important figures in the history of science, a blind genius who introduced mathematical concepts and many analytical tools to help us understand and describe the universe. Euler also made a monumental contribution to astronomy and orbital mechanics, developing what he called astronomia mechanica. Orbital mechanics of artificial satellites and spacecraft is based on Euler's analysis of astromechanics. However, previous books have often neglected many of his discoveries in this field. For example, orbital mechanics texts refer to the five equilibrium points in the Sun-Earth-Moon system as Lagrange points, failing to credit Euler who first derived the differential equations for the general n-body problem and who discovered the three collinear points in the three-body problem of celestial mechanics. These equilibrium points are essential today in space exploration; the James Webb Space Telescope (successor to the Hubble), for example, now orbits the Sun near L2, one of the collinear points of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, while future missions to study the universe will place observatories in orbit around Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon equilibrium points that should be properly called Euler-Lagrange points. In this book, the author uses Euler's memoirs, correspondence, and other scholarly sources to explore how he established the mathematical groundwork for the rigorous study of motion in our Solar System. The reader will learn how he studied comets and eclipses, derived planetary orbits, and pioneered the study of planetary perturbations, and how, old and blind, Euler put forward the most advanced lunar theory of his time.
Mathematical analysis --- Mathematics --- Space research --- Astronomy --- Classical mechanics. Field theory --- Geophysics --- zwaartekracht --- analyse (wiskunde) --- wiskunde --- ruimte (astronomie) --- ruimtevaart --- mechanica --- Astronomer --- Physicists --- Celestial mechanics. --- Euler, Leonhard,
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Today we are all familiar with the iconic pictures of the nebulae produced by the Hubble Space Telescope's digital cameras. But there was a time, before the successful application of photography to the heavens, in which scientists had to rely on handmade drawings of these mysterious phenomena. Observing by Hand sheds entirely new light on the ways in which the production and reception of handdrawn images of the nebulae in the nineteenth century contributed to astronomical observation. Omar W. Nasim investigates hundreds of unpublished observing books and paper records from six nineteenth-century observers of the nebulae: Sir John Herschel; William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse; William Lassell; Ebenezer Porter Mason; Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel; and George Phillips Bond. Nasim focuses on the ways in which these observers created and employed their drawings in data-driven procedures, from their choices of artistic materials and techniques to their practices and scientific observation. He examines the ways in which the act of drawing complemented the acts of seeing and knowing, as well as the ways that making pictures was connected to the production of scientific knowledge. An impeccably researched, carefully crafted, and beautifully illustrated piece of historical work, Observing by Hand will delight historians of science, art, and the book, as well as astronomers and philosophers.
Philosophy of science --- Applied astronomy --- Astronomer --- anno 1800-1899 --- Nebulae --- Astronomers --- Astronomy --- Observations --- History --- Nebulae - Observations - History - 19th century --- Astronomers - History - 19th century --- Astronomy - History - 19th century --- Physical scientists --- Galactic nebulae --- Gaseous nebulae --- Nebulas --- Galaxies
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This book describes the life and times of fifty-three great British scientists and engineers - male and female inventive geniuses who changed the world, improving the lives of mankind, and propelling humanity forward. Their stories abound with personal ingenuity, brilliance and scientific or engineering wizardry, and with the ambition to satisfy fundamental human needs. The author aspires to set these individual achievements in the socio-political context of their place in history, sometimes embracing the activities of others to round off the story and scientific contribution. Avoiding overly technical language, he nonetheless succeeds in making complex theories and technologies more comprehensible and accessible to a lay audience. This book is a must for all those interested in the prehistory and history of the steam engine, transport, communication technology, public health services, and many topics from the natural sciences. Many of the inventions described in its pages have helped shape the modern world.
Engineering sciences. Technology --- Civil engineering. Building industry --- History --- History of the United Kingdom and Ireland --- History of Eastern Europe --- geschiedenis --- technologie --- Europese geschiedenis --- ingenieurswetenschappen --- Astronomer --- Physicists --- Technological innovations --- Engineers --- Engineers.
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Measuring the Universe is the first history of the evolution of cosmic dimensions, from the work of Eratosthenes and Aristarchus in the third century B.C. to the efforts of Edmond Halley (1656-1742). "Van Helden's authoritative treatment is concise and informative; he refers to numerous sources of information, draws on the discoveries of modern scholarship, and presents the first book-length treatment of this exceedingly important branch of science."-Edward Harrison, American Journal of Physics "Van Helden writes well, with a flair for clear explanation. I warmly recommend this book."-Colin A. Ronan, Journal of the British Astronomical Association
Astronomy --- Cosmological distances --- History --- cosmic, interdimensional, philosophy, philosophical, academic, scholarly, aristarchus, halley, history, historical, philosopher, eratosthenes, ancient, antiquity, international, global, bc, third century, ptolemy, cosmos, galileo, kepler, copernicus, mercury, speculation, astronomy, astronomer, horrocks, synthesis, cassini, flamsteed, textbook, college, university.
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Some years ago, David Freedberg opened a dusty cupboard at Windsor Castle and discovered hundreds of vividly colored, masterfully precise drawings of all sorts of plants and animals from the Old and New Worlds. Coming upon thousands more drawings like them across Europe, Freedberg finally traced them all back to a little-known scientific organization from seventeenth-century Italy called the Academy of Linceans (or Lynxes). Founded by Prince Federico Cesi in 1603, the Linceans took as their task nothing less than the documentation and classification of all of nature in pictorial form. In this first book-length study of the Linceans to appear in English, Freedberg focuses especially on their unprecedented use of drawings based on microscopic observation and other new techniques of visualization. Where previous thinkers had classified objects based mainly on similarities of external appearance, the Linceans instead turned increasingly to sectioning, dissection, and observation of internal structures. They applied their new research techniques to an incredible variety of subjects, from the objects in the heavens studied by their most famous (and infamous) member Galileo Galilei-whom they supported at the most critical moments of his career-to the flora and fauna of Mexico, bees, fossils, and the reproduction of plants and fungi. But by demonstrating the inadequacy of surface structures for ordering the world, the Linceans unwittingly planted the seeds for the demise of their own favorite method-visual description-as a mode of scientific classification. Profusely illustrated and engagingly written, Eye of the Lynx uncovers a crucial episode in the development of visual representation and natural history. And perhaps as important, it offers readers a dazzling array of early modern drawings, from magnificently depicted birds and flowers to frogs in amber, monstrously misshapen citrus fruits, and more.
Science --- History. --- Accademia nazionale dei Lincei --- galileo, philosopher, philosophical, astronomy, astronomer, natural, nature, history, historical, academic, scholarly, research, colleagues, drawings, artistic, illustrations, science, scientific, europe, italy, academy, 1600s, pictorial, microscopic, observation, detail, flora, fauna, bees, plants, reproduction, interdisciplinary, pictures.
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If scientists can't touch the Sun, how do they know what it's made of? And if we can't see black holes, how can we be confident they exist? Gravitational physicist David Garfinkle and his brother, science fiction writer Richard Garfinkle, tackle these questions and more in Three Steps to the Universe, a tour through some of the most complex phenomena in the cosmos and an accessible exploration of how scientists acquire knowledge about the universe through observation, indirect detection, and theory. The authors begin by inviting readers to step away from the Earth and reconsider our Sun. What we can directly observe of this star is limited to its surface, but with the advent of telescopes and spectroscopy, scientists know more than ever about its physical characteristics, origins, and projected lifetime. From the Sun, the authors journey further out into space to explore black holes. The Garfinkle brothers explain that our understanding of these astronomical oddities began in theory, and growing mathematical and physical evidence has unexpectedly supported it. From black holes, the authors lead us further into the unknown, to the dark matter and energy that pervade our universe, where science teeters on the edge of theory and discovery. Returning from the depths of space, the final section of the book brings the reader back down to Earth for a final look at the practice of science, ending with a practical guide to discerning real science from pseudoscience among the cacophony of print and online scientific sources. Three Steps to the Universe will reward anyone interested in learning more about the universe around us and shows how scientists uncover its mysteries.
Black holes (Astronomy) --- Dark matter (Astronomy) --- Nonluminous matter (Astronomy) --- Unobserved matter (Astronomy) --- Unseen matter (Astronomy) --- Interstellar matter --- Frozen stars --- Compact objects (Astronomy) --- Gravitational collapse --- Stars --- Sun. --- Solar system --- universal, space, solar, phenomenon, mysterious, academic, scholarly, research, science, scientist, astronomy, astronomer, physics, interdisciplinary, gravitation, gravity, gravitational, physicist, sci fi, cosmos, easy to read, observation, indirect, detection, theory, theoretical, earth, star, telescope, spectroscopy, exploration, astronomical, energy.
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Galileo's 1632 book, Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, comes alive for twentieth-century readers thanks to Maurice Finocchiaro's brilliant new translation and presentation. Condemned by the Inquisition for its heretical proposition that the earth revolves around the sun, Galileo's masterpiece takes the form of a debate, divided into four "days," among three highly articulate gentlemen. Finocchiaro sets the stage with his introduction, which not only provides the human and historical framework for the Dialogue but also admits the reader gracefully into the basic non-Copernican understanding of the universe that would have been shared by Galileo's original audience. The translation of the Dialogue is abridged in order to highlight its essential content, and Finocchiaro gives titles to the various parts of the debate as a guide to the principal topics. By explicating his own critical reading of this text that is itself an exercise in critical reasoning on a gripping real-life controversy, he illuminates those universal, perennial activities of the human mind that make Galileo's book a living document. This is a concrete, hands-on introduction to critical thinking. The translation has been made from the Italian text provided in volume 7 of the Critical National Edition of Galileo's complete works edited by Antonio Favaro. The translator has also consulted the 1632 edition, as well as the other previous English translations, including California's 1967 version.Galileo on the World Systems is a remarkably nuanced interpretation of a classic work and will give readers the tools to understand and evaluate for themselves one of the most influential scientific books in Western civilization.
Astronomy --- Galilei, Galileo, --- Solar system --- Early works to 1800. --- Galilei, Galileo --- Early works to 1800 --- ancient world. --- astronomer. --- astronomy. --- biographical. --- copernican. --- copernicus. --- critical thinking. --- cultural context. --- famous person. --- hands on. --- historical context. --- italian history. --- italy. --- literary analysis. --- literary criticism. --- literary studies. --- outer space. --- philosopher. --- philosophy. --- planets. --- ptolemaic. --- ptolemy. --- scientific. --- solar system. --- translation. --- universe. --- western world. --- world history. --- world systems.
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During his lifetime, Kurt Gödel was not well known outside the professional world of mathematicians, philosophers and theoretical physicists. Early in his career, for his doctoral thesis and then for his Habilitation (Dr.Sci.), he wrote earthshaking articles on the completeness and provability of mathematical-logical systems, upsetting the hypotheses of the most famous mathematicians/philosophers of the time. He later delved into theoretical physics, finding a unique solution to Einstein’s equations for gravity, the ‘Gödel Universe’, and made contributions to philosophy, the guiding theme of his life. This book includes more details about the context of Gödel’s life than are found in earlier biographies, while avoiding an elaborate treatment of his mathematical/scientific/philosophical works, which have been described in great detail in other books. In this way, it makes him and his times more accessible to general readers, and will allow them to appreciate the lasting effects of Gödel’s contributions (the latter in a more up-to-date context than in previous biographies, many of which were written 15–25 years ago). His work spans or is relevant to a wide spectrum of intellectual endeavor, and this is emphasized in the book, with recent examples. This biography also examines possible sources of his unusual personality, which combined mathematical genius with an almost childlike naiveté concerning everyday life, and striking scientific innovations with timidity and hesitancy in practical matters. How he nevertheless had a long and successful career, inspiring many younger scholars along the way, with the help of his loyal wife Adele and some of his friends, is a fascinating story in human nature.
Mathematical logic --- History of philosophy --- Pure sciences. Natural sciences (general) --- Mathematics --- History --- wetenschapsgeschiedenis --- filosofie --- geschiedenis --- wiskunde --- logica --- Astronomer --- Physicists --- Mathematics. --- History. --- Mathematical logic. --- Astronomers --- Science --- Philosophy --- History of Mathematical Sciences. --- Mathematical Logic and Foundations. --- Biographies of Physicists and Astronomers. --- History of Science. --- History of Philosophy. --- Biography. --- Matemàtics --- Gödel, Kurt. --- Àustria
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Originally published in 1830, this book can be called the first modern work in the philosophy of science, covering an extraordinary range of philosophical, methodological, and scientific subjects. "Herschel's book . . . brilliantly analyzes both the history and nature of science."-Keith Stewart Thomson, American Scientist
Science --- Physics --- Astronomy --- Philosophy. --- History. --- natural philosophy, philosophical, 19th century, science, scientific, scientists, methodological, methodology, astronomy, astronomer, history, historical, sir john frederick william herschel, julian day system, saturn, uranus, moons, inductive approach, experimentation, theory-building, general principle, purposes of life, cosmical phenomena, matter, physics, classification, observation, mutual relations, knowledge, verification.
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