Book Talk: Making Stars Physical
Project Type
Faculty Scholarship
Scholarship Domain(s)
Scholarship of Discovery
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract
For the past five years I have been working on understanding the importance and influence of John Herschel, the leading British natural philosopher of the Victorian era. This talk will summarize the background and process for writing the book that resulted from this research, which was published Spring 2018. My book provides the first extensive treatment of Herschel's career in astronomy, which I argue was pivotal in developing a conception of the stars as physical objects. Herschel established the sidereal revolution, applying mathematical frameworks to make objects like double stars, variable stars, and nebulae capable of being studied systematically and quantitatively.
Permission Type
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Book Talk: Making Stars Physical
Fishbowl
For the past five years I have been working on understanding the importance and influence of John Herschel, the leading British natural philosopher of the Victorian era. This talk will summarize the background and process for writing the book that resulted from this research, which was published Spring 2018. My book provides the first extensive treatment of Herschel's career in astronomy, which I argue was pivotal in developing a conception of the stars as physical objects. Herschel established the sidereal revolution, applying mathematical frameworks to make objects like double stars, variable stars, and nebulae capable of being studied systematically and quantitatively.