The Correspondence of John Flamsteed, The First Astronomer Royal: Volume 3 / Edition 1

by Eric Gray Forbes, Lesley Murdin, Frances Wilmoth

Overview

The Correspondence of John Flamsteed discusses this leading figure in the final phases of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution, presents his extensive correspondence with 129 British and foreign scholars all over the world, and touches on many of the scientific discussions of the day. This book, the last volume of the set, contains his letters from number 901 to 1515.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750307635
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/01/2001
Series:	Correspondence of John Flamsteed, First Astronomer Royal
Pages:	1038
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Eric Gray Forbes, Lesley Murdin, Frances Wilmoth

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. List of Letters. Abbreviated References. Glossary of Astronomical and Other Technical Terms. List of Symbols. Introduction. Letters 901-1515. Appendix-Official Documents. Agenda to Previous Volumes. Biographical Notes. Index.

Editorial Reviews

"John Flamsteed was England's first Astronomer Royal. He lived and worked for over 40 years in Christopher Wren's Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Throughout those years he corresponded with key figures of the British and continental scientific communities. Astronomical observations, scientific instruments, and the publication of results were all discussed. Surviving letters written to and by Flamsteed during the last 16 years of his life are collected together in this third and final volume of correspondence. It is a window onto the life of a diligent astronomer and onto the scientific world of the early 18th Century.

The letters … are arranged in chronological order. They are typed versions of handwritten missives in the Cambridge-based Greenwich archive and of others in the UK, St. Petersburg, Basel, New York, and Pisa. Willmoth's introductory essay is an excellent entrance to the letters. She embraces the broad themes, highlights details to look out for, and supplies incisive commentary. Two of Flamsteed's concerns, the publication of his Greenwich observations and his desire to retain independence from the Royal Society, feature in the correspondence.

Present and future historians of science owe a debt to the thorough and assiduous work of Flamsteed's editors. They've not only made his correspondence available to a wide readership but have led them into this world of meticulously and expertly annotating each letter. A rich, largely untapped source of study is yours for the picking."
-Carole Stott, The Observatory

From the Publisher

Once again the editors, past and present, and the publishers are to be thoroughly congratulated on setting right 300 years of neglect of perhaps the most unjustly and persistently maligned figure in astronomical history.

Journal of the British Astronomy Association

For all the trauma of a midlife crisis read this book. Its riveting.

New Scientist