A Short History of ObservatoriesThe developing relationship between astronomical instruments and the structures that house them is discussed by an art historian who begins her narrative in Galileo's time and moves through the intervening centuries into our own day. "Early observatories were hardly more than observation platforms, built of wood and equipped with shutters or revolving roofs ..." writes Mrs. Donnelly. As telescopes increased in complexity and size, provision for a specially tailored physical setting became necessary. Mrs. Donnelly discusses the structural and artistic logic dictated by the maturing science and shows in textual descriptions and accompanying plates the results of this blending of science and architecture. |
Contents
Preface | 1 |
Tower Observatories in the Eighteenth Century | 29 |
Innovations in the Early Nineteenth Century | 57 |
Copyright | |
1 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
158-inch reflector aerial telescopes architect architectural astronomer Astronomical Observatory Astrophysical Observatory Berlin building Calton Hill Cambridge Cassini central block central pier Cerro Tololo chamber construction Copenhagen David Dunlap Observatory Doric Dunsink east and west eighteenth century equatorial telescope façade feet high feet in diameter floor Galileo Geschichte Giant Refractors Göttingen Hevelius History Ibid Ingolstadt installed instru International Astrographic Congress Kitt Peak Kitt Peak National l'Observatoire Lick Observatory ments MERIDIAN CIRCLE meridian room Mount Hamilton Mount Palomar Mount Wilson Munich mural quadrant Naval Observatory nineteenth century observatories built observing room octagon Ole Rømer Paris PASSAGE INSTRUMENT Peak National Observatory Photo courtesy pilasters Plate Popular Astronomy principal dome Pulkowa Radcliffe Observatory refractor Rømer roof Royal Greenwich Observatory second story servatory slits staircase Sternwarte Strassburg Sydney Observatory tion tory Tower Observatories transit instrument turret University Observatory walls Warner and Swasey west wing Winterhalter Yerkes Observatory