British University Observatories 1772–1939
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A01=Roger Hutchins
academic astronomy
astronomer
Astronomical Physics
astrophysics research
Author_Roger Hutchins
British Astronomy
cambridge
Cambridge Observatory
carte
Carte Du Ciel
Category=N
Category=NH
ciel
Double Stars
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eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
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Fundamental Research
Grand Amateur
Hebdomadal Council
history of science
institutional politics academia
Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope
Lick Observatory
Meridian Circle
Minor Planets
observatory
observatory directors
physics
Practical Astronomy
radcliffe
Radcliffe Observatory
Radcliffe Trustees
royal
Royal Observatory
Savilian Professor
scientific institutions UK
solar
Solar Physics
Solar Physics Observatory
Solar Telescope
University Astronomers
University Observatories
university observatory development prewar
University's Astronomy
University’s Astronomy
variable
Variable Stars
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9781138264205
- Weight: 1050g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 15 Nov 2016
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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British University Observatories fills a gap in the historiography of British astronomy by offering the histories of observatories identified as a group by their shared characteristics. The first full histories of the Oxford and Cambridge observatories are here central to an explanatory history of each of the six that undertook research before World War II - Oxford, Dunsink, Cambridge, Durham, Glasgow and London. Each struggled to evolve in the middle ground between the royal observatories and those of the 'Grand Amateurs' in the nineteenth century. Fundamental issues are how and why astronomy came into the universities, how research was reconciled with teaching, lack of endowment, and response to the challenge of astrophysics. One organizing theme is the central importance of the individual professor-directors in determining the fortunes of these observatories, the community of assistants, and their role in institutional politics sometimes of the murkiest kind, patronage networks and discipline shaping coteries. The use of many primary sources illustrates personal motivations and experience. This book will intrigue anyone interested in the history of astronomy, of telescopes, of scientific institutions, and of the history of universities. The history of each individual observatory can easily be followed from foundation to 1939, or compared to experience elsewhere across the period. Astronomy is competitive and international, and the British experience is contextualised by comparison for the first time to those in Germany, France, Italy and the USA.
Roger Hutchins, FRAS, as a member of Magdalen College received his B.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 1992, and his D.Phil. in 1999. He was also a Research Associate with and contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
