Under Newton's Shadow – Astronomical Practices in the 17th Century

Abstract

Lesley Murdin 1985 Bristol: Adam Hilger viii + 152 pp price £16.75 (IOP members' price £13.40) ISBN 0 85274 456 0 In Newton's time, as now, science depended as much on the matrix of community and communication between rank and file scientists as on individual genius. By describing the lives and personalities of the English astronomers of roughly 1670–1720, Lesley Murdin not only tells a vivid and absorbing story but helps to build an understanding of how and why rational astronomy emerged.