Lequeux François Arago

A 19th Century French Humanist and Pioneer in Astrophysics
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-3-319-20723-0
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 421, 343 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: Astrophysics and Space Science Library

François Arago, the first to show in 1810 that the surface of the Sun and stars is made of incandescent gas and not solid or liquid, was a prominent physicist of the 19th century. He used his considerable influence to help Fresnel, Ampere and others develop their ideas and make themselves known. This book covers his personal contributions to physics, astronomy, geodesy and oceanography, which are far from negligible, but insufficiently known. Arago was also an important and influential political man who, for example, abolished slavery in the French colonies. One of the last humanists, he had a very broad culture and range of interests. In parallel to his biography, this title also covers the spectacular progresses of science at the time of Arago, especially in France: the birth of physical optics, electromagnetism and thermodynamics. Francois Arago's life is a fascinating epic tale that reads as a novel.

James Lequeux completed his PhD thesis in radioastronomy in 1962 and was an assistant, then associate, professor of physics and astronomy at Paris University until 1966. He was an Astronomer from 1966-1999 and an invited scientist at CalTech from 1968-1969. Dr. Lequeux was also the Director of the Marseilles Observatory from 1983-1988 and was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics for 15 years. He retired in 1999 and then began work on the history of astronomy, a subject he presently writes about. Dr. Lequeux has published over 403 papers and five books, including The Interstellar Medium (Springer 2005) and Le Verrier: Magnificent and Detestable Astronomer (Springer 2013).

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lequeux, James

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;6
2;Acknowledgements;10
3;Contents;12
4;Chapter 1: Scientific Life in France at the Time of Arago;17
4.1;The Great Scientific Institutions;18
4.1.1;The Academy of Sciences;18
4.1.2; Some Other Scientific Societies;22
4.1.3; The Board of Longitudes;23
4.2; The Grandes Écoles;25
4.2.1;The École Polytechnique;26
4.2.2; The École Normale Supérieure;28
4.3; The Conditions for Scientific Research;29
4.3.1;The Nature of Research;29
4.3.2; Science and Society;31
4.3.3; Financing Research;32
4.3.4; Publications;33
4.3.5; An International Science;37
5;Chapter 2: The Life of Arago;38
5.1;The Arago Family;39
5.2; Youth (1756–1809);42
5.3; The Catalan Odyssey;44
5.4; The Friendship of Humboldt;45
5.5; The Time of Major Scientific Activity (1809–1830);47
5.5.1;Elected to the Academy of Sciences;47
5.5.2; Professor at the École Polytechnique;49
5.5.3; The Scientific Work;50
5.5.4; At the Observatory;53
5.6; The Politician (1830–1838);55
5.6.1;The Deputy;56
5.6.2; The 1848 Revolution22;60
5.6.3; The Abolition of Slavery;62
5.6.4; The End of a Dream;63
5.7; The Last Years;66
6;Chapter 3: The Nature of Light;71
6.1;The Precursors;71
6.2; The Polarization of Light;77
6.2.1;What Is Polarization?;77
6.2.2; Malus and the Discovery of Polarization;82
6.2.3; Arago’s Contribution;83
6.3; Arago and Fresnel;87
6.3.1;Fresnel’s Come Out;87
6.3.2; Fresnel and Arago in Paris;91
6.4; Infrared and Ultraviolet;98
7;Chapter 4: The Velocity of Light;102
7.1;The Constancy of the Velocity of Light;103
7.1.1;The Aberration of Light;103
7.1.2; John Michell and the Variations of the Velocity of Light;104
7.1.3; Arago’s Experiment;106
7.1.4; The Intervention of Fresnel;110
7.1.5; Fizeau’s Experiment;112
7.1.6; The Modern Interpretation of Arago’s and Fizeau’s Experiments;115
7.2; Arago’s “Crucial Experiment”;117
7.2.1;The Rotating Mirror;117
7.2.2; Fizeau and Foucault Pick Up the Torch;119
7.2.3; Problems of Deontology;120
7.3; The Direct Measurement of the Velocity of Light;122
7.3.1;The Precursors;122
7.3.2; Fizeau’s Toothed Wheel;125
7.3.3; The Velocity of Light After Fizeau and Arago;127
8;Chapter 5: The Birth of Electromagnetism;132
8.1;The Electric Battery;132
8.2; Œrsted’s Experiment;135
8.3; Ampère’s First Experiments;138
8.4; Arago Intervenes;140
8.5; Arago and Faraday: Transformation of Energy;142
8.5.1;The First Electric Motors;142
8.5.2; The “Magnetism of Rotation”;145
8.5.3; Controversies;146
8.5.4; The Discovery of Induction;147
8.5.5; Arago’s Stubbornness;148
8.5.6; Faraday and the Magnetic Field;149
8.5.7; Wild Imaginings and Discoveries on Electricity;150
8.6; Some of the First Applications of Electricity;151
8.6.1;The Electric Telegraph;151
8.6.2; Electric Motors;155
8.6.3; Magnetos and Dynamos;156
9;Chapter 6: Measuring the Earth;161
9.1;Geodesy Before Arago;161
9.1.1;The Origins;161
9.1.2; The Length of the Degree and the Shape of the Earth;164
9.1.3; The Beginnings of Gravimetry;165
9.1.4; Geodesy and Cartography: The Cassini Map of France;166
9.1.5; Triangulations at the End of the Eighteenth Century;168
9.1.6; Measuring the Paris Meridian During the French Revolution;172
9.2; Arago’s Work;176
9.2.1;Extending the Measurements of the Meridian to the Balearic Islands: Should One Change the Length of the Meter?;176
9.2.2; The New Geodesic Linkage of France and England;179
9.3; Leveling and New Maps of France;182
9.3.1;Leveling;182
9.3.2; New Maps of France;182
10;Chapter 7: Arago and the Paris Observatory;184
10.1;The Paris Observatory Before Arago;185
10.1.1;The Beginnings;185
10.1.2; Eighteenth Century Improvements;189
10.2; The Observatory of the Board of Longitudes13;191
10.2.1;The Observatory upon Arago’s Arrival;191
10.2.2; The Instruments of Arago;191
10.2.3; The Great Equatorial Telescope of the East Tower19;195
10.2.4; The Amphitheater;200
10.3; Life at the Observatory;200
10.3.1;The Astronomers and the Arago Clan;200
10.3.2; The Visitors;203
10.3.3; The Observations;205
10.3.4; The Le Verrier Affair32;207
10.4; The Observatory at Arago’s Death;212
11;Chapter 8: Arago Astronomer;214
11.1;Astronomy in France in Arago’s Time;215
11.1.1;The Triumph of Newtonian Mechanics;215
11.1.2; William Herschel’s Contribution;216
11.1.3; The Program of the Board of Longitudes;218
11.2; Astrometry at the Paris Observatory;220
11.2.1;Proper Motion and Parallax;221
11.2.2; Arago’s Micrometer;225
11.3; The Polarization of Light and the Physical Nature of Celestial Bodies;227
11.3.1;The Moon;227
11.3.2; The Sun;228
11.3.3; Solar Total Eclipses;230
11.3.4; Stars;231
11.3.5; Comets;233
11.4; Photometry;235
11.4.1;The Limb Darkening of the Solar Disk;236
11.4.2; The Brightness of the Sky, and Stellar Photometry;239
11.5; Scintillation, Seeing and the Diameter of Stars;242
11.5.1;Arago’s Explanation;242
11.5.2; Arago’s Scintillometer;244
11.5.3; The Diameter of Stars;244
12;Chapter 9: Arago Geophysicist and Meteorologist;246
12.1;Arago and Meteorology;248
12.1.1;The Birth of Scientific Meteorology;248
12.1.2; Meteorological Forecast;248
12.1.3; A Synoptic Approach;250
12.1.4; Storms, Lightning and Waterspouts;250
12.1.5; The Red Moon;252
12.1.6; Atmospheric Optics;254
12.2; Terrestrial Magnetism;255
12.2.1;Arago’s Measurements;256
12.2.2; Diurnal Variations of the Earth’s Magnetic Field;257
12.2.3; Magnetic Field and Polar Aurorae;259
12.2.4; The Origin of the Terrestrial Magnetic Field;261
12.2.5; A Synoptic View of the Terrestrial Magnetic Field;261
12.3; The Temperature of the Earth;263
12.4; Oceanography;265
12.4.1;The Detection of Reefs;266
12.4.2; Currents;266
12.4.3; A Method for Oceanography;268
13;Chapter 10: Applied Physics;270
13.1;The Optical Properties of Gases;271
13.1.1;The First Measurements;271
13.1.2; The Refractive Power: A Stone in Newton’s Backyard;272
13.1.3; Interferential Measurements;273
13.2; Arago and the Lighthouses;274
13.2.1;A Short History of Lighthouses;274
13.2.2; Arago and Fresnel Intervene;275
13.2.3; The Fresnel Lenses;277
13.3; The Velocity of Sound;279
13.4; The “Elastic Force” of Water Vapor;280
14;Chapter 11: The Promotion of Science and Technique;283
14.1;The Popularization of Science;283
14.1.1;The Public Lectures in Astronomy and the Astronomie Populaire;283
14.1.2; Discourses and Interventions at the Chamber of Deputies;287
14.1.3; At the Academy of Sciences;288
14.1.4; The Scientific Notices;289
14.2; The Steam Engine and the Industrial Progress;290
14.2.1;Improvements and Dangers of the Steam Engine;290
14.2.2; The Birth of Thermodynamics;293
14.2.3; A Few Curiosities;295
14.2.4; The Economic and Social Consequences of the Steam Engine;298
14.3; The Railways;299
14.3.1;The Beginnings;299
14.3.2; The Parisian Railways and the Intervention of Arago;300
14.3.3; Banks or State?;301
14.3.4; Two False Trails: The Atmospheric Railway and the Arnoux System;302
14.4; A Pioneer of Photography;306
14.4.1;The Beginnings;307
14.4.2; Arago’s Presentations at the Academy of Sciences;307
14.4.3; The First Astronomical Photographs;309
14.5; The Water Supply of Paris and the Artesian Wells;310
15;Chapter 12: Arago’s Legacy;315
15.1;Funeral and Discourses;315
15.2; Other Times, New Dispositions;318
15.2.1;Péreire at Estagel;319
15.2.2; The Third Republic;321
15.2.3; Modern Times;323
15.3; Magnificence and Decadence of French Physics and Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century;324
16;Bibliography;327
16.1;Writings by Arago;327
16.2;Books and Documents on Arago;327
16.3;Other Ancient Books;329
16.4;Some Selected Other Books;332
16.5;Some Useful Internet Sites;333
17;Index;334

The Scientific Life in France at the Time of Arago.- The Life of Arago.- The Nature of Light.- The Velocity of Light.- The Birth of Electromagnetism.- The Measurement of the Earth.- Arago and the Paris Observatory.- Arago, Astronomer.- Arago, Geophysicist and Meteorologist.- Towards Applied Physics.- The Promoter of Science and Technique.- The Heritage of Arago.

Über Autor(innen)

James Lequeux completed his PhD thesis in radioastronomy in 1962 and was an assistant, then associate, professor of physics and astronomy at Paris University until 1966. He was an Astronomer from 1966-1999 and an invited scientist at CalTech from 1968-1969. Dr. Lequeux was also the Director of the Marseilles Observatory from 1983-1988 and was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics for 15 years. He retired in 1999 and then began work on the history of astronomy, a subject he presently writes about. Dr. Lequeux has published over 403 papers and five books, including The Interstellar Medium (Springer 2005) and Le Verrier: Magnificent and Detestable Astronomer (Springer 2013).