VENUS IN TRANSIT by Eli Maor/Astronomy/Solar System/History/NEW/HB/DJ/Illustrat.

Description: Description: A stirring history of the efforts of astronomers to use rare passages of Venus across the face of the sun to measure the size of the solar system. Condition: Hardbound with title on spine. Pictorial dustjacket. Book is new: clean, crisp, tightly bound, and unmarked throughout. From the publisher’s promo: “In 2004, Venus will cross the sun's face for the first time since 1882. Some will not bother to step outside. Others will plan for years, reserving airline tickets to see the transit in its entirety. But even this group of astronomers and experience seekers will be attracted not by scientific purpose but by the event's beauty, rarity, and perhaps—after this book—history. For previous sky-watchers, though, transits afforded the only chance to determine the all-important astronomical unit: the mean distance between earth and sun. Eli Maor tells the intriguing tale of the five Venus transits observed by humans and the fantastic efforts made to record them. This is the story of heroes and cowards, of reputations earned and squandered, told against a back-drop of phenomenal geopolitical and scientific change. With a novelist's talent for the details that keep readers reading late, Maor tells the stories of how Kepler's misguided theology led him to the laws of planetary motion; of obscure Jeremiah Horrocks, who predicted the 1639 transit only to die, at age 22, a day before he was to discuss the event with the only other human known to have seen it; of the unfortunate Le Gentil, whose decade of labor was rewarded with obscuring clouds, shipwreck, and the plundering of his estate by relatives who prematurely declared him dead; of David Rittenhouse, Father of American Astronomy, who was overcome by the 1769 transit's onset and failed to record its beginning; and of Maximilian Hell, whose good name long suffered from the perusal of his transit notes by a color-blind critic. Moving beyond individual fates, Maor chronicles how governments' participation in the first international scientific effort—the observation of the 1761 transit from seventy stations, yielding a surprisingly accurate calculation of the astronomic unit using Edmund Halley's posthumous directions—intersected with the Seven Years' War, British South Seas expansion, and growing American scientific prominence. Throughout Maor guides readers to the upcoming Venus transits in 2004 and 2012, opportunities to witness a phenomenon seen by no living person and not to be repeated until 2117.” Biographical Note: Eli Maor is Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at Loyola University in Chicago. He is author of e: The Story of a Number, Trigonometric Delights, and To Infinity and Beyond. VISIT MY EBAY STORE FOR OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST(Click This Link) PLEASE INQUIRE ABOUT DISCOUNTS ON MULTIPLE PURCHASES Shipping: Free media rate shipping in US. International shipping as appropriate (See shipping and Payments tab on this listing page for further details). We make every attempt to describe items clearly and completely. Please read our listings carefully, inspect posted images of the item, and let us know if you have any questions before you bid. All buyers must pay according to Ebay policies.; If you have any questions about this, please email me. International bidders should contact me for a quote on shipping before bidding.; Whenever possible, international shipping will be via Ebay Standard International Delivery. Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.

Price: 10 USD

Location: Riverside, Rhode Island

End Time: 2025-02-11T22:16:34.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD