EPILOGUE
CURIOSITY IS THE SPARK OF INSPIRATION, inspiration the fuel of passion, and passion—even more than brilliance—the engine of scientific progress. Over the span of eight decades, into the early twentieth century, a succession of determined innovators guided astronomy through a metamorphosis that redefined its methodologies, its social structure, and arguably its very reason for being. Once handmaiden to the practical imperatives of navigation and calendar-keeping, the explication of the cosmos became an end in itself. The classical astronomer’s question, “Where is a star?” evolved into the astrophysicist’s more profound inquiry, “What is a star?”
Amateur astronomers and inventors, immune to the strictures of professional advancement, drove the early stages of this transformation. Like all scientists, they sought the joy that comes with concentrated effort to solve a problem. Many also strove for self-validation through acceptance into the ranks of scholarly associations—at least until the complexity of astrophysical research outpaced their aspirations and abilities. In the private observatories of Warren De La Rue, Henry Draper, Lewis Rutherfurd, William Huggins, Andrew Common, and Isaac Roberts, photons from outer space no longer illuminated the astronomer’s retina, but were funneled into opto-mechanical devices borne of human ingenuity and scientific necessity. But rather than being shunted aside by the camera and the spectroscope, the observer’s eye was unshackled from its evolutionary bonds and endowed with unprecedented acuity. One by one, institutional astronomers were swept up by the tide of technological innovation, moved to action by the successes of their amateur counterparts and by the widening adoption of the new methods by their peers.
Yet as George Ellery Hale realized at the close of the nineteenth century, celestial photography and spectroscopy formed a two-legged stool: until the telescope grew dramatically in aperture and precision, these valuable tools would fail to reach their full potential. Over the course of three decades, Hale transformed a rugged California mountaintop into one of the world’s premier research institutions. By 1920, Mount Wilson Observatory occupied the apex of a pyramid of technological achievement, an edifice piled with stones of innovation and experiment, bound in place by the cement of physics, chemistry, and inventor’s sweat. From this remarkable convergence of the photographic, spectroscopic, and telescopic crafts, the once-fledgling field of observational astrophysics would mature into the scientific powerhouse that it is today.
During this astrophysical awakening, the Sun’s blinding surface yielded to photochemical dissection, its underlying structure and processes opened up to theoretical scrutiny. The light of stars was unwound, revealing the atmospheric composition and radial velocities of luminaries light-years distant. Nebulae disclosed their manifold forms to the camera and their elemental makeup and physical properties to the spectrograph. Of the last, the spiral nebulae would come to hold special historical significance. From Lord Rosse’s first crude hand-renderings of spiral nebulae, to James Keeler’s revelatory photographs proving their vast numbers, to Vesto Slipher’s spectroscopic measurement of galactic redshifts, and finally to Edwin Hubble’s synthesis of evidence regarding their nature and cosmological significance, the rise of astrophysics transformed observational cosmology into a full-fledged, quantitative science. As the twentieth century unfolded, breakthroughs in theoretical physics interfaced with telescopic investigations, stimulating their mutual advancement.
Today, astronomers explore the universe with mountaintop reflectors whose dimensions dwarf those of previous generations. Robotic instruments tirelessly ply the night sky for asteroids and exploding stars. Space telescopes circle Earth, yielding cosmic images unblurred by our planet’s atmosphere. Photosensitive electronic chips have replaced chemical plates in the camera and the spectrograph. Supercomputers churn through masses of observational data generated nightly in observatories around the world. With all these means, modern astronomers have determined the precise age of the universe, its physical state a moment after birth, and its probable time line into the future; created numerical models that depict the energy-generating mechanisms in stars; tracked the telltale movements of objects under the gravitational thrall of a black hole; tallied an ever-expanding roster of extrasolar planets; and photographed youthful galaxies billions of light-years away. These accomplishments, as well as the cosmic conundrums that yet remain, hark back to an earlier era of astrophysical exploration.
Hubble’s determination of the Andromeda Galaxy’s distance in 1923 epitomizes both the enormous gulf that separates us from the rest of the universe and the astronomer’s ever-widening reach into space—the “receding horizons” Hubble referred to in the 1930s. Our knowledge of the physical world is likewise circumscribed by a horizon. This horizon, too, recedes with time, as human inquisitiveness exerts continual pressure against the margins of the unknown. With each increment of acquired knowledge, our time-tested assumptions about nature are jostled, and should they fall, are replaced by unbidden enigmas. In fact, history has proven that scientists’ overall state of comprehension goes hand-in-hand with their overall state of ignorance; the greater our understanding of the universe and its constituent objects, the more unanswered questions that present themselves.
Like a cognitive cornucopia, science pours forth new questions as rapidly as it lays aside the old. This endless stream of conundrums has sustained inquiring minds for thousands of years. The amateurs and professionals who together strove to modernize astronomy exemplify the scientist’s ineffable need to confront and vanquish the unknown. So it has been, so it will remain. As English poet and classicist A. E. Housman declared in his introductory lecture at University College, London, in 1892, “Other desires perish in the gratification, but the desire of knowledge never: the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing. . . . The sum of things to be known is inexhaustible, and however long we read we shall never come to the end of our storybook.”
REFERENCES
Part I: Picturing the Heavens
p. 19“By applying . . .”—Seaton (1899), p. 154.
Chapter 1. True Eye and Faithful Hand
p. 21“There is no one . . .”—Clerke (1902), p. 5.
p. 22“for many succeeding ages.”—Newell (1806), p. 12.
p. 22“We seemed to be . . .” —“An Account of the Total Eclipse . . .” (1806), p. 245.
p. 22“angels had been . . .”—Columbian Centinel (June 21, 1806), p. 2.
p. 23“the neatness, patience, and accuracy . . .”—George Phillips Bond, in “Sketch of William Cranch Bond” (1895), p. 401.
p. 23“in despair . . .”—George Phillips Bond, in Holden (1897), p. 10.
p. 23“Then and there . . .”—E. Bond (1938).
p. 24“by which Earth-bound observers . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 13.
p. 24“watching the appearances . . .”—Morus (2005), p. 198.
p. 25“depends entirely . . .”—Loomis (1856), p. 52.
p. 26“once in the workshop . . .”—Bessel, F. W., and Schumacher, H. C., ed. Populäre Vorlesungen über wissenschaftliche Gegenstände. Hamburg: Perthes-Besser & Mauke (1848), p. 17.
p. 27“a tube with an eye . . .”—Milham (1937), p. 531.
p. 27“It is with no feeling of pride . . .”—Loomis (1856), p. 26.
p. 28“nothing in this act . . .”—Loomis (1856), p. 26.
Chapter 2. The Ingenious Mechanic of Dorchester
p. 29“No living man . . .”—Mitchell (1851), p. 278.
p. 30“[H]is optic nerve . . .”—E. Bond (1938).
p. 30“ingenious mechanic . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 28.
p. 31“must be such as to enable . . .”—W. C. Bond (1856), p. iii.
p. 32“a piece of ordnance . . .”—Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887, p. 257.
p. 32“The time had not yet arrived . . .”—W. C. Bond (1856), p. v.
p. 33“His antipathy . . .”—Holden (1897), p. 15.
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br /> p. 34“To watch the motions . . .”—Holden (1897), p. 13.
p. 34“There is something to my mind . . .”—Baker (1890), p. 13.
p. 35“his habits were not adapted . . .”—Holden (1897), p. 17.
p. 35“Mr. Bond was well established . . .”—Holden (1897), pp. 17–18.
p. 35“there is no disparagement . . .”—Holden (1897), p. 18.
p. 36“In regard to the principle features . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 53.
p. 36“was approached by terraces . . .”—E. Bond (1938).
p. 37“An astronomical observer . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 56.
p. 37“An excavation was first made . . .”—Mitchell (1851), p. 5.
p. 37“the first appearance . . .”—Jones (1968), p. 56.
p. 37“It is delightful to see . . .”—Jones (1968), p. 59.
p. 39“One observer, with a sharp pencil . . .”—Jones & Boyd (1971), p. 54.
p. 39“They came by the Hundreds . . .”—Jones (1968), p. 66.
p. 39“perfect Babel”—Jones (1968), p. 66.
Chapter 3. Writing with Light
p. 40“[Photography] seemed to epitomize . . .”—Rudisill (1971), pp. 73, 76.
p. 43“As night fell . . .”—Newhall (1961), p. 16.
p. 44“What then was there so wonderful . . .”—Daguerre (1971), p. 16.
p. 45“one of these Parisians . . .”—Barger and White (1991), p. 20.
p. 45“there should be found . . .”—Newhall (1982), p. 17.
p. 46“without any notion . . .”—Daguerre (1838).
p. 47“You can now say . . .”—Daguerre (1971), Introduction, p. 18.
p. 48“that compared to these masterpieces . . .”—Newhall (1982), p. 23.
p. 48“It is hardly saying . . .”—Barger and White (1991), pp. 26–27.
p. 48“must have been very difficult . . .”—Report to the Chamber of Peers of the French Parliament, July 13, 1839; in Daguerre (1971), p. 33.
p. 49“opticians’ shops were crowded . . .”—Newhall (1982), p. 23.
p. 50“We have seen the views . . .”—Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor, The Knickerbocker, New York, 1839, in Taft (1964), p. 3.
p. 50“[W]e distinguish the smallest details . . .”—“Chemical and Optical Discovery.” Boston Courier (February 28, 1839).
p. 50“It is not merely the likeness . . .”—Manuscript letter by Elizabeth Barrett (Browning) to Mary Russell Mitford, December 7, 1843. Wellesley College Library, Special Collections. [www.daguerreotypearchive.org].
p. 51“daguerreotype likenesses . . .”—National Police Gazette (New York) 1 (June 27, 1846): 355.
p. 53“curious and ingenious specimen of art”—Humphrey (1850), p. 14.
Chapter 4. Summits of Silver
p. 54“It clear’d off afternoon . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 71.
p. 54“doing things with nothing to do with . . .”—Grant (1851), p. 94.
p. 55“thrown upon the scene as large as life.”—Pierce (1987), p. 18.
p. 56“By this most simple means . . .”—Snelling (1888), p. 562.
p. 56“a fixed fact for the naturalist . . .”—Grant (1851), p 95.
p. 56“Mr. Whipple was satisfied . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 71.
p. 57“we do not despair . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 75.
p. 57“Nothing could be more interesting . . .”—Whipple (1853), p. 66.
p. 59“had a tendency to move . . .”—Whipple (1853), p. 66.
p. 61“the sea breeze, the hot and cold air . . .”—Whipple (1853), p. 66.
p. 62“It is our purpose to pursue the subject . . .”—Hoffleit (1950), p. 27.
p. 62“much troubled by clouds . . .”—Hoffleit (1950), p. 27.
p. 62“The effect was at once apparent . . .”—Hoffleit (1950), p. 27.
p. 62“We have rarely seen anything . . .”—David A. Wells, in Annual of Scientific Discovery, Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1852, p. 135.
p. 62“Fringes of darkness casting themselves off . . .”—“Photography in the United States.” Photographic Art-Journal (1853), p. 338.
p. 64“The change which takes place . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), pp. 102–103.
p. 64“taken as old Sol lights . . .”—Whipple (1853), p. 66.
Chapter 5. The Man with the Oil-Can
p. 65“In bringing before the Association . . .”—De La Rue (1860), p. 130.
p. 65“Anyone who is not satisfied . . .”—Holden (1897), pp. 87–88.
p. 66“I am the man with the oil-can.”—Huggins (1889), p. 249.
p. 67“If I were asked what course of practice . . .”—Nasmyth (1883), p. 327.
p. 68“charmed”—De La Rue (1859–60), p. 180.
p. 72“We will not attempt to state . . .”—Taft (1938), p. 211.
p. 72“[T]o be an amateur in wet plate days . . .”—Taft (1938), p. 374.
p. 73“The inventor of Collodion died . . .”—June 13, 1857, in Hughes (2010).
p. 75“[I]t was not easy to find . . .”—De La Rue (1857), p. 16.
p. 75“numberless impediments sufficient to damp . . .”—De La Rue (1859–60), p. 181.
Chapter 6. The Evangelists
p. 76“The wonderful exactness of the photographic record . . .”—Turner (1905), p. 78.
p. 77“Most patiently he taught us the names . . .”—Holden (1897), p. 50.
p. 77“one of the most remarkable applications . . .”—http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Maxwell.html.
p. 77“On a fine night . . .”—G. P. Bond (1890), pp. 301–302.
p. 78“George is, and has been for months . . .”—Jones & Boyd (1971), p. 82.
p. 80“surface of the globe must be explored . . .”—G. P. Bond (1859), p. 78.
p. 80“There is nothing, then, so extravagant . . .”—G. P. Bond (1890), pp. 301–302.
p. 82“[N]o one need hope for even moderate success . . .”—De La Rue (1860), pp. 133–134.
p. 82“I have never any failure . . .”—De La Rue (1860), p. 135.
p. 83“as if a giant with eyes . . .”—LeConte (2011), p. 20.
p. 84“The accounts [of the corona and prominences] . . .”—Rothermel (1993), p. 148.
p. 85“the retina which never forgets . . .”—Lockyer (July 30, 1874), p. 255.
Chapter 7. The Aristocrat and the Artisan
p. 86“I take great pleasure in bringing . . .”—Rutherfurd (1848), p. 437.
p. 86“almost shrinking modesty . . .”—Gould (1892), p. 32.
p. 87“from spare parts . . .”—Morris-Rutherfurd family papers, 1717–1889.
p. 87“189 feet N.W. from Second Avenue . . .”—Rutherfurd (1865), p. 304.
p. 88“Men have been known to go . . .”—Chapman (1998), p. 175.
p. 88“I was soon on the balcony . . .”—Lankford (1984), p. 215.
p. 89“My largest is an achromatic telescope . . .”—Rutherfurd (1848), p. 437.
p. 90“The making of the best negative . . .”—“American Photographical Society . . .” (1862), p. 379.
p. 90“If we look with a reflector at a bright star . . .”—Common (1884), p. 39.
p. 91“a labor . . .”—Rutherfurd (1865), p. 307.
p. 93“[W]e are filled with mingled wonder . . .”—“Rutherfurd’s Photograph . . .” (1866), p. 37.
p. 93“I have made many thousand photographs . . .”—Reingold (1964), p. 254.
p. 94“[I]nstead of being restricted . . .”—Gould (1878), p. 15.
p. 95“rush into print.”—Rees (1892), p. 694.
p. 95“by far the most distinguished . . .”—“Lewis Morris Rutherfurd.” (1889), p. 375.
Chapter 8. Passion Is Good, Obsession Is Better
p. 96“When Henry and Anna Draper rode home . . .”—Schucking (1982), p. 306.
p. 97“the rest sat silent . . .”—Plotkin (1982), p. 322.
p. 97“had for a companion, friend, and teacher . . .”�
�Youmans (1882), p. 756.
p. 97“On one side was the sincerest filial devotion . . .”—Young (1883), p. 30.
p. 98“No astronomical drawing . . .”—Smyth (1846), p. 75.
p. 100“His lectures are so interesting . . .”—Young (1883), p. 31.
p. 100“Lamentations being useless . . .”—Gould (1878), p. 17.
p. 101“It becomes a pleasant . . .”—H. Draper (1864a), p. 24.
p. 101“A current of cold air . . .”—H. Draper (1864a), p. 9.
p. 102“An uninterrupted horizon . . .”—Martin (1992), p. 6.
p. 103“This is the first observatory . . .”—H. Draper (1861), p. 64.
p. 104“[I]nstead of injuring the photograph . . .”—H. Draper (1864a), p. 34.
p. 105“[I] can see no reason . . .”—H. Draper (1864a), p. 1.
p. 105“My experience in the matter . . .”—H. Draper (1864a), p. 55.
p. 105“I had become acquainted . . .”—Brashear (1988), p. 55.
p. 106“our wedding trip”—Anna Palmer Draper to Edward C. Pickering, April 10, 1887, in Boyd (1969), p. 97.
p. 107“From what I see here . . .”—John Draper to Henry Draper, December 19, 1870; Plotkin (1982), p. 324.
p. 108“By a little pushing you might . . .”—John Draper to Henry Draper, February 9, 1871, in Plotkin (1982), p. 325.
p. 108“was as good as any in existence . . .”—Barker (1888), p. 101.
p. 109“So great was [Anna Draper’s] interest . . .”—Cannon (1915), p. 381.
p. 109“probably the most difficult and costly . . .”—Youmans (1882), p. 756.
p. 109“Observations made by its means . . .”—Clerke (1902), p. 234.
p. 110“God forbid that astronomy . . .”—Meadows (1984), p. 61.
Chapter 9. From Closet to Cosmos
p. 112“Collodion—slow old fogey . . .”—Newhall (1982), p. 124.
p. 114“twenty-two thousand miles on steamer . . .”—Newhall (1982), p. 124.
p. 116“[H]ow cold my feet were . . .”—Ashbrook (1984), pp. 384–385.
p. 116“The exposure of the Orion nebula . . .”—Gingerich (1980), p. 365.
p. 118“the best representation . . .”—Holden (1882), p. 227.
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