Decoding the Stars: A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist

XVIII, 356 Pp. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-38729-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 16, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 1973 g

Reihe: Jesuit Studies

Winner of the 2021 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical Astronomy

In Decoding the Stars, Ileana Chinnici offers an account of the life of the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878). In addition to providing an invaluable account of Secchi’s life and work—something that has been sorely lacking in the English-language scholarship—this biography will be especially stimulating for those interested in the evolution of astrophysics as a discipline from the nineteenth century onward.
Despite his eclecticism, reminiscent of the natural philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Secchi was in many ways a very modern scientist: open to innovation and cooperation, and a promoter of popularization and citizen science.
Secchi also appears fully inserted in the cultural context of his time: he participated in philosophical and scientific debates, spread new theories and ideas, but also suffered the consequences of political events that marked those years and impacted on his life and activities.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chinnici, Ileana

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Allgemeines
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astrophysik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Angewandte Physik Astrophysik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Christliche Orden und Vereinigungen, Ordensgeschichte, Mönchstum
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword

Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J.

Foreword

Nichi D’Amico

Preface

Ileana Chinnici

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Introduction: A Century in Ferment

1 Secchi’s Early Life and Education: From Childhood to the Priesthood

2 The Experience of Exile: A Tragic Opportunity

3 Establishing the New Collegio Romano Observatory: An Observatory for “Physical Astronomy”

4 Advisor to the Papal States: Science in the Service of the Public

5 A Rising International Career: Travels, Achievements, and Recognition

6 Contributions to Astrophysics

7 A Crucial Political Change: New Risks and Missed Opportunities

8 A Society for a New Astronomy: Building a Network for Spectroscopic Research

9 A Controversial Personality: Secchi and the Scientific Debates of His Time

10 Secchi’s Final Years: Illness and Uncertainty

Conclusion: Secchi’s Scientific Legacy

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ileana Chinnici is an astronomer at the INAF-Palermo Astronomical Observatory and works in the field of the history of astrophysics. She has published books and articles in international journals, exploring historical archives related to scientific projects and scientists of the nineteenth century.