1. Reflections on the
Astronomy of Glasgow
David Clarke
Paperback ISBN:
978-0-7486-7890-7
£35.00 336 pages
Release date: 1 May 2013
The words‘Astronomy’and‘Glasgow’seem an incongruous juxtaposition, and yet
the two are closely linked over 500 years of history. This is a tale of enlightenment
and scientific progress at both institutional and public levels. Combined with
the ambitions of civic commerce, it is a story populated with noteworthy
personalities and intense rivalries.
It is remarkable to realise that the first Astronomy teaching in the Glasgow
‘Colledge’presented an Earth-centred Universe, prior to the Copernican
revolution of the mid sixteenth Century. Glasgow was later known
astronomically for the telescope observations of sunspots made
by Wilson in the 1760s, but less well known are the ideas related to
mono-chromaticity within light, to dew point and hoar frost, and Herschel’s
discovery of infra-red energy in solar radiation by application of Glasgow-made
thermometers.
This engrossing and entertaining scientific history includes the story of Glasgow’s
‘Big Bang’of 1863, the controversy over‘Astronomer Royal for Scotland’and a
historical survey of the eight observatories that once populated Glasgow. David
Clarke brings us a complex weave of science and accompanying social history in
this unique and fascinating work.‘Detailed and colourful
insights into the people and
events behind Glasgow’s half
millennium of astronomical
achievements and the
direction of modern trends’
–John C. Brown, 10th
Astronomer Royal for
Scotland
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Clarke is a practical astronomer, having worked around the world
on optical telescopes and on space missions such as Skylab and Pioneer
10. His chief focus has been the study of Astronomical Polarimetry and
he has spent most of his career within the University of Glasgow in
Education and Research as Observtory Director.
How Astronomy contributed to the
educational enlightenment of Glasgow,
to its society and to its commerce
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• A comprehensive narrative of 500+ years of Glasgow’s connections with
Astronomy, the story being unique and non-comparable with any other
city around the world
• Provides short biographies of colourful contributors to the Astronomical
scene in Glasgow
• Gives insight on social aspects of Astronomy within Glasgow, its
relationships with commerce, and the upsurge of interests in Astronomy by
the general public
AI Sheet for
Reflections on
the Astronomy of
Glasgow,
Edinburgh
University Press.