Description |
1 online resource : illustrations |
Series |
Jesuit studies: modernity through the prism of Jesuit history, 2214-3289 ; volume 16 |
Contents |
Introduction : a century in ferment -- Secchi's early life and education : from childhood to the priesthood -- The experience of exile : a tragic opportunity -- Establishing the new collegio romano observatory : an observatory for "physical astronomy" -- Advisor to the Papal States : science in the service of the public -- A rising international career : travels, achievements, and recognition -- Contributions to astrophysics -- A crucial political change : new risks and missed opportunities -- A society for a new astronomy : building a network for spectroscopic research -- A controversial personality : Secchi and the scientific debates of his time -- Secchi's final years : illness and uncertainty -- Conclusion : Secchi's scientific legacy |
Summary |
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 |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on August 08, 2019) |
Subject |
Secchi, Angelo, 1818-1878.
|
SUBJECT |
Secchi, Angelo, 1818-1878 fast |
Subject |
Jesuits -- Italy -- Biography
|
SUBJECT |
Jesuits fast |
Subject |
Astronomers -- Italy -- Biography
|
|
Astronomy -- History -- 19th century
|
|
Astrophysics -- History -- 19th century
|
|
Astronomers
|
|
Astronomy
|
|
Astrophysics
|
|
Italy
|
Genre/Form |
Biographies
|
|
History
|
Form |
Electronic book
|
LC no. |
2018053239 |
ISBN |
9004387331 |
|
9789004387331 |
|