Eclipse Expeditions Research Articles

Gender, Culture, and Astrophysical Fieldwork: Elizabeth Campbell and the Lick Observatory–Crocker Eclipse Expeditions

Previous articleNext article No AccessLife in the FieldGender, Culture, and Astrophysical Fieldwork: Elizabeth Campbell and the Lick Observatory–Crocker Eclipse ExpeditionsAlex Soojung-Kim PangAlex Soojung-Kim Pang Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Osiris Volume 11, Number 11996Science in the Field Published for the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/368753 Views: 16Total views on this site Citations: 16Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1996 The History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Donald Opitz Domesticities and the Sciences, Histories 2, no.33 (Aug 2022): 259–269.https://doi.org/10.3390/histories2030020Adriana Minor Up‐and‐down journeys: The making of L atin A merica's uniqueness for the study of cosmic rays, Centaurus 62, no.44 (Sep 2020): 697–719.https://doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12335Lisa Messeri Gestures of Cosmic Relation and the Search for Another Earth, Environmental Humanities 9, no.22 (Nov 2017): 325–340.https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-4215325Ray Sumner Shadows on the landscape: an inquiry into the value of some Australian places, Geographical Research 54, no.44 (Feb 2016): 377–390.https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12172Donald L. Opitz Domestic Space, (Mar 2016): 252–267.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118620762.ch18Mariana Moraes de Oliveira Sombrio, Em busca pelo campo – Mulheres em Expedições Científicas no Brasil em meados do século XX, Cadernos Pagu , no.4848 (Jan 2016).https://doi.org/10.1590/18094449201600480009 Bibliography, (Oct 2015): 566–665.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119072218.biblioSusana Biro Natural Wonders and Scientific Performance, Science Communication 36, no.66 (Dec 2014): 735–753.https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547014554960Joseph S. Tenn Campbell, William Wallace, (Dec 2016): 360–363.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_233Amanda Rees Reflections on the Field, Social Studies of Science 37, no.66 (Jun 2016): 881–907.https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312707077368Ileana Chinnici, James M. Lattis, Mariafortuna Pietroluongo, Roberto Torretti, Marco Murara, Giancarlo Truffa, Thomas R. Williams, Joseph S. Tenn, Monique Gros, Harry G. Lang, Eugene F. Milone, Ennio Badolati, Pasquale Tucci, William Sheehan, Françoise Launay, Richard Baum, Richard Baum, Richard Baum, Richard Baum, John M. McMahon, Steven N. Shore, John J. Saccoman, Bert G. Wachsmuth, Fabrizio Bònoli, Suhasini Kumar, Antonella Testa, Thomas Hockey, Richard A. Jarrell, William Sheehan, William Tobin, William Sheehan, Roger Cayrel, Raghini S. Suresh, K. Sakurai, Roy H. Garstang, Richard A. Jarrell, Virginia Trimble, Richard Baum, Gustav Holmberg, Alan Baragona, Mark D. Meyerson, Davide Neri, Katherine Haramundanis, Ursula B. Marvin, Gregg DeYoung, Philip Edwards, David W. Dewhirst, Jürgen Hamel, Paul T. Keyser, Nicholas Campion, Jean‐Pierre Luminet, Gary L. Cameron, Mihkel Joeveer, James M. Lattis, Alan C. Bowen, Mary T. Brück, Richard Baum, John W. Docktor, Christof A. Plicht, Richard Baum, Nadia Robotti, Matteo Leone, Mary Croarken, Patricia S. Whitesell, Glenn S. Everett, Antonio E. Ten, Ian Elliott, Jordan D. Marché, Owen Gingerich, Charlotte Bigg, John Hilton, Ednilson Oliveira, Stephen D. Snobelen, Jordan D. Marché, John Menzies, Donald K. Yeomans, Emmanuel Dormy, Virginia Trimble, Jean‐Pierre Luminet, Thomas R. Williams, Richard A. Jarrell, Robert Alan Hatch, Jordan D. Marché, Rudi Paul Lindner, Dorrit Hoffleit, Derek Jensen, Marvin Bolt Campbell, William Wallace, (Jan 2007): 195–197.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_233Jeremy Vetter Wallace’s Other Line: Human Biogeography and Field Practice in the Eastern Colonial Tropics, Journal of the History of Biology 39, no.11 (Mar 2006): 89–123.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-005-6543-4Delphine Gardey La part de l'ombre ou celle des lumières ?, Travail, genre et sociétés Nº 14, no.22 (Oct 2005): 29–47.https://doi.org/10.3917/tgs.014.0029Jean-Yves Durand Entre sédiments, strates et failles : le « terrain », une métaphore minée ?, Ethnologie française Vol. 31, no.11 (Mar 2001): 127–141.https://doi.org/10.3917/ethn.011.0127 References, (): 211–229.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373919-008Jérôme Lamy Sources imprimées et bibliographie, (): 496–533.https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pur.5953

The Social Event of the Season: Solar Eclipse Expeditions and Victorian Culture

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Social Event of the Season: Solar Eclipse Expeditions and Victorian CultureAlex Soojung-Kim PangAlex Soojung-Kim Pang Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 84, Number 2Jun., 1993 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/356462 Views: 33Total views on this site Citations: 7Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1993 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Joshua Nall Constructing Canals on Mars: Event Astronomy and the Transmission of International Telegraphic News, Isis 108, no.22 (May 2017): 280–306.https://doi.org/10.1086/692678Christopher Evans, Richard Newman An ‘Imperial Philosophical Machine’: the archaeology of the Cambridge Observatory and early modern science, Antiquity 85, no.330330 (Jan 2015): 1369–1384.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00062116Christina Helena da Motta Barboza, Ciência e natureza nas expedições astronômicas para o Brasil (1850-1920), Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas 5, no.22 (Aug 2010): 273–294.https://doi.org/10.1590/S1981-81222010000200006 Theresa Levitt Biot’s Paper and Arago’s Plates: Photographic Practice and the Transparency of Representation Levitt, Isis 94, no.33 (Jul 2015): 456–476.https://doi.org/10.1086/380654Gustav Holmberg Mechanizing the astronomer's vision: On the role of photography in Swedish astronomy, c. 1880–1914, Annals of Science 53, no.66 (Sep 2006): 609–616.https://doi.org/10.1080/00033799600200421 Helen M. Rozwadowski Small World: Forging a Scientific Maritime Culture for Oceanography, Isis 87, no.33 (Oct 2015): 409–429.https://doi.org/10.1086/357568Felix Driver Visualizing geography: a journey to the heart of the discipline, Progress in Human Geography 19, no.11 (Mar 1995): 123–134.https://doi.org/10.1177/030913259501900112

Relativity and Eclipses: The British Eclipse Expeditions of 1919 and Their Predecessors

La deviation gravitionnelle de la lumiere verifiee en photographiant une eclipse du soleil (Campbell, Eddington).

Irregularity drift velocities in the equatorial electrojet observed by both the close-spaced antenna technique and the Doppler radar method

Electrojet drift data using both HF and VHF Doppler techniques and the close-spaced receiver technique were obtained simultaneously in Chad, Africa, during the June 1973 solar eclipse expeditions. The close-spaced receiver method (D 1) of the Sarh (Fort Archambault) station was run intensively during June and July 1973. Two phase-coherent Doppler radar systems working at different frequencies (50 MHz, 21 MHz) were set up at Sarh station and a third Doppler radar was installed at Fort Lamy. All systems were run during a few days simultaneously with the D 1 system. The drift velocities observed by the Doppler technique are compared with the close-spaced receivers data in this paper. Under normal conditions the two methods show similar drifts. There are periods, however, possibly associated with increased magnetic activity, when the D 1 drift data are in excess of the Doppler data by more than a factor of two. Furthermore, while reversals are regularly observed by the close-spaced technique, few are detected by the Doppler radars during day-time, due to the disappearance of the cross-field instability. It is therefore necessary to associate the irregularities observed by the close-spaced receivers technique with another process.

Eclipse work on astrophysics, and on the moon's place

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

Charles Rundle Davidson, 1875-1970

Charles Rundle Davidson was born on 28 February 1875 and educated at Christ’s Hospital. He joined the staff of the Royal Observatory, which was then at Greenwich, on 10 March 1890, and was established as a Computer on 1 June 1896. He spent the whole of his working life at the Royal Observatory and retired on 31 August 1937, after more than 41 years’ established service. He died on 18 June 1970. When Davidson joined the staff of the Royal Observatory it was sharply divided into senior and junior ranks, and Davidson was a junior. Nevertheless he established a reputation for ability to handle equipment which was so great as to elevate him to the recognized position of the Observatory’s arbiter on all instrumental matters, and Dyson in particular relied on Davidson absolutely to supervise the later eclipse expeditions which Dyson made such a feature of the work of the Royal Observatory. In all, Davidson went on eight eclipse expeditions, of which the most famous was the eclipse of 1919, at which the Einstein effect, that is to say the deflexion of starlight passing the limb of the Sun, was first found. The whole matter was extremely important in establishing the relativity theory, and the expeditions of 1919, of which there were two from Greenwich, were given great prominence in Eddington’s writings. Eddington and Cottingham went to the island of Principe off the coast of Africa, and Davidson and Crommelin went to Sobral in North Brazil. At Principe the sky was partly clouded but some star images were found on the plates. At Sobral the observers were favoured with fine weather.

Lunar profiles determined from annular solar eclipses of 1962 and 1963

The present paper contains a discussion of the techniques of measurements and the result of reductions of the photographs of the annular solar eclipses observed on July 31, 1962 in Senegal, West Africa, and January 25, 1963 in the Union of South Africa, by the Lockheed-Manchester Eclipse Expeditions, with the aim of improving our knowledge of the form of the Moon as seen in projection against the disc of the Sun. The lunar profile deducted from the 1962 eclipse plates was found to be insufficiently well defined due to the effects of irradiation. The 1963 eclipse plates were, however, largely free this this defect, and their analysis led to satisfactory results. The outcome of the reductions revealed that the deviations of the lunar profile from a circle were of the form +0″.54 sin 2 β − 0″.16 cos 2 β + 0″.27 sin 3 β − 0″.05 cos 3 β − 0″.16 sin 4 β + 0″.11 cos 4 β, where β denotes the lunar position angle measured from the eastern part of the equator in the counterclockwise direction. These deviations were compared with the preceding lunar limb determination, and found to be in satisfactory agreement; in particular, they agree within the limits of observational errors with the profiles obtained by Potter and Watts. The elliptical component of the profile is found to have its major axis inclined by approximately 37° to the lunar axis of rotation—a value which is almost identical with that given by Watts.

Solar turbo power-plant design

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

The not so auxiliary power systems

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

Sources of solar ultraviolet radiation

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

Global communications via space

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

The march into inner and outer space

The role played by the Royal Observatory in eclipse expeditions to observe the Sun's chromosphere and corona is briefly summarized. Eclipse work on the Moon's place (not always involving expeditions) is then dealt with, culminating in the author's cinematographic method which was used successfully at Mombasa in 1948.

The determination of Einstein's light-deflection in the gravitational field of the sun

The problem of the observational determination of the light-deflection in the gravitational field of the Sun, as predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, is outlined. All available results obtained at eclipse expeditions until now, as far as these have been successful, and their critical discussions are briefly summarized. Each set of observations is represented diagrammatically by the particular star field, and the published measures are shown for each star separately. The relevant details of each attempt are tabulated. An extensive bibliography covers most of the essential work on the problem.

48. The radial brightness distribution of the sun at 9·4 cm.

The Naval Research Laboratory has supported four eclipse expeditions (in the years 1947, 1950, 1952 and 1954) under the direction of Dr J. P. Hagen. The principal purpose was to find the variation of the solar microwave radiation during a total optical eclipse of the sun. During the last two eclipses the sun was sufficiently inactive to enable us to derive the centre-to-limb brightness distribution at a wave-length of 9·4 cm., on the assumption that the distribution was circularly symmetrical. Since these two eclipses were of the same optical magnitude (within 0·12 %) and were measured with the same equipment located at each eclipse near the centre-line of mid-totality, it is of interest to compare their results. The 1954 eclipse observation was described in the last paper by Mayer, Sloanaker and Hagen. The 1952 observation has already been described [1].

Recollections of seventy years of scientific work

This article records some of the researches in solar physics undertaken during my life. These have included the following: prominence observations covering sixteen years; spectroheliograph work with a direct vision prism; experiments on the radiation of heated gases; eclipse expeditions in 1898 and 1900; studies of the relation between emission and absorption spectra, and of the continuous spectrum of hydrogen. In India (1906–1923) my work included: the discovery of radial motion and the estimate of pressure in sunspots; a study of the exceptional observing conditions in Kashmir; measurements of the red-shift in connection with Einstein's prediction; great magnetic storms during flares; the motion in the tail of Halley's comet and its transit over the Sun; observations of novae. At Ewhurst (1923–1954) I was concerned with: high-dispersion work with liquid prisms; the study of the Zeeman effect and the discovery of a particularly sensitive line for its determination; measurements of minute line-shifts due to horizontal motions; and the decrease of wavelength of solar lines. Reference is made to scientific men I have met and to whom I am indebted for interest and encouragement.

Results obtained by the Finnish solar eclipse expeditions, 1947

In 1947, the Finnish Geodetic Institute sent two expeditions to observe the total solar eclipse; one to Brazil, the other to the Gold Coast. The purpose of the expeditions was to determine the distance between the observation points through observation of the moments when the shadow of the Moon passes the observation points. These expeditions used specially constructed cameras which had been designed for solar eclipse recordings and featured a smoothly moving film (as contrasted to the jerky movement of film in commercial camera). Both expeditions were successful. The evaluation of their films gave the distance between two observation places with an accuracy of ±94 m. This error was mainly due to the prevailing poor knowledge of the profile of the Moon. When better values for the profile are available, it is expected that the error will be reduced to about half its present size.

Astrophysics at Cambridge : Dr. R. O. Redman, F.R.S.

DR. R. O. REDMAN, chief assistant at the Radcliffe Observatory, Pretoria, has been appointed professor of astrophysics and director of the Observatories of the University of Cambridge on the retirement of Prof. F. J. M. Stratton. A Sheepshanks Exhibitioner and Isaac Newton Student at Cambridge, he spent part of his time as a student at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, under Prof. J. S. Plaskett. His work there on the galactic rotation of late-type stars led to his return to Cambridge as assistant director of the Solar Physics Observatory and fellow of St. John's College. His experience with the 72-inch Victoria reflector made him an obvious choice as chief assistant to Dr. Knox Shaw when the Radcliffe Observatory moved from Oxford to Pretoria to complete for the southern sky the work of the Victoria telescope in the northern hemisphere. A series of unhappy delays has so far prevented the Radcliffe Observer and his staff from getting the 74-inch mirror with which the programme was to have been carried out, and Dr. Redman returns with some of his plans unfulfilled. But he has from his days at Victoria, Cambridge and Pretoria a good volume of first-class work to his credit, mainly in the spheres of photometry and spectrophotometry. With close attention to the instrumental conditions essential to success, he has made very careful studies of the contours of Fraunhofer lines both at the centre of the sun's disk and on the limb, of chromospheric lines as seen at a total eclipse and of the absorption lines at different stages of eclipse of one component of a binary star. He has been a member of four eclipse expeditions, in 1927, 1932, 1936 and 1940. In 1940 he was favoured with fine weather, and secured some valuable spectrographic observations: the high temperature, 30,000°, which he found for the chromosphere and the strength of the weak Fraunhofer lines at the extreme limb of the sun are results which are not yet fully understood. His direct photometry includes work on the Andromeda and other nebulae and on the use of the Fabry method in stellar photometry. He is at present co-operating with Dr. Stoy of the Cape Observatory on standard stellar magnitudes for the southern sky.

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society : Prof. M. G. J. Minnaert

PROF. MARCEL GILLES JOZEF MINNAERT, director of the Sonnenburg Observatory, Utrecht, has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his outstanding contributions to solar physics and in particular to solar spectrophotometry. A pupil of Julius, he was later at Utrecht a colleague of Ornstein and Moll, and an early worker in the field of spectrophotometry, both developing the technique and applying it to a wide range of solar problems. He has taken part in a number of eclipse expeditions : to Sumatra in 1926 and 1929, and to Canada in 1932, all spoilt by clouds ; his one successful expedition was to Lapland for the eclipse of 1927, where he obtained the first absolute values of the intensities of the chromospheric lines. He produced during the early days of the War a “Photometric Atlas of the Solar Spectrum”, a most valuable contribution to solar spectroscopy. His leter years in the War were spent in a concentration camp, from which he has emerged with his scientific enthusiasms undamped. He is chairman of the Commission on Spectrophotometry of the International Astronomical Union, a position for which he is well qualified by both experimental and theoretical studies. The distribution of energy in the sun's continuous spectrum and in that of the corona, the law of darkening of the sun's limb, and the polarization of the corona are among other subjects to which he has made valuable contributions. He has also worked on the direct photometry of Venus, the moon and red stars. His work is throughout characterized by a thoroughness, accuracy and care which have secured him a leading position in his own field. He was elected an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1-945.

Chromospheric Spectrum from Ten Eclipse Expeditions.

Chromospheric Spectrum from Ten Eclipse Expeditions.

History of Science in the University of London: Prof. H. Dingle

PROF. H. DINGLE, who has been appointed to the University of London chair of the history and philosophy of science, amply possesses that first qualification required in a professor of the history and philosophy of science, namely, a real working knowledge of science. This he gained first at the Plymouth School of Science, Art and Technology and later at the Imperial College, South Kensington. There, after graduation, he was inducted into spectro-scopic research by Prof. Alfred Fowler, whom he succeeded in the charge of the Sub-department of Astrophysics. He has produced an important treatise on the subject and has taken part in eclipse expeditions and in the international assemblies of astronomers. Perhaps it was the intense public interest in the astronomical confirmation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, after the War of 1914-18, that first awakened in Prof. Dingle the concern with the philosophy of science that has since grown ever stronger ; his writings on relativity have continued from 1922 onwards. With the aid of a Rockefeller grant, he studied astrophysics and the philosophy of science in the United States, and returned there in 1936 to give the Lowell Lectures at Boston, Mass. His works in this field include “Science and Human Experiences”, “Through Science to Philosophy”, “Mechanical Physics”, and many shorter contributions to collective works or philosophical journals. He has engaged in active controversies with Eddington and Milne on the adequacy of pure theory as a basis for science, and he is a well-known opponent of current views on the social relations and social planning of science. As a historian of science his work mainly lies in the future ; besides his gifts of literary expression, he has wit, eloquence and power as a speaker.