History of Astronomy - General History Page

Contents

• History of Astronomy and Related Science Websites
• Link Directories
• General and Introductory Websites
• Websites for Deeper Study
• History of Particular Astronomy Subfields
• Object Observation History
• Histories of Related Fields
• Astronomy Courses with History
• History Courses with Astronomy
• Historical Collections and Artifacts
• Other History of Science Websites
• General History Websites
• Some Book Suggestions
• Related Pages on this Website

History of Astronomy and Related Science Websites

Link Directories

• History of Astronomy Resources listings @ AstroWeb Links. alternate link.
• Astronomiae Historia / History of Astronomy
• Webhideout Astronomy History Links
• ECHO Science & Technology Virtual Center hosted by George Mason Univ.
  Link directory to a number of in-depth history pages online. Part of ECHO- Exploring & Collecting History Online
• Also see More Places to Look on the Internet.
• Also see Astronomy links in other languages.

General and Introductory Websites

• A Brief History of Astronomy, part of a larger tutorial, @ CASS, UC San Diego
• The Brief History of Astronomy
  An astronomy timeline compiled by Marek Dudka.
• BBC - Final Frontier TV Program - Discoveries
• Events In Science- Mathematics- and Technology - Version 3.0
  Includes several timelines in specialized astronomy topics.
• Windows to the Universe includes history of astromomy and space information.
• Astronomy Related Resources On the Web (A.R.R.O.W.)
  A web project by High School student Jean-Paul Wagner in Luxembourg. The website format is actually a nicely done overview of the history of astronomy. He provides biography cross links; most of these are to the MacTutor math history website.
• Science A-17 the Astronomical Perspective Harvard University.
  See the Lecture Notes.
• History and Philosophy of Western Astronomy Nick Stroble's Astronomy Notes.
• From Stargazers to Starships David P. Stern, NASA GSFC
• Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
• The Starry Messenger early astronomy.
• Important Astronomers, their Instruments and Discoveries
  by Paul M. Rybski @ Ptolemy's Supper Club
• Astronomy.Rocks! The History of Astronomy
• Short biographies of The Bruce Medalists awards by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific since 1898; includes many prominent astronomers
• Planet Mars Chronology NASA Ames Mars Atmospheric Modeling Group.
• History of Astronomy at the Adler Planetarium
• Museo della Specola, Bologna Università di Bologna, Dipartminto di Astronomia. In Italian.
• Copernic - Astronomie- Histoire & Astronautique in French
• Somnium- Cronología Astronómica AstroRED, history of astronomy website in Spanish.
• Artículos @ Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica Mexico. in Spanish.
• Hypertext on Astronomy, National Cheng-Kung University (Taiwan) in Chinese ¤Ñ¤å±Ð¾Ç¹êÅç«Ç
  Has sections on Chinese and Western astronomy history.
• Also see Astronomy Picture of the Day.
• Also see General Astronomy References.
• Also see Biographies.

Websites for Deeper Study

• Astronomiae Historia / History of Astronomy
• Petra van der Heijden's Homepage The Netherlands
  Some of her own history of astronomy work, plus many links.
• History of Mathematics @ Mac Tutor
• Galileo & Einstein by Michael Fowler (home page of Physics 109N course for non-scientists)
  This history of science course begins with Ancient Babylonian & Egyptian math, and then covers many topics in ancient Greek astronomy. In addition to Galileo, he discusses Kepler, Brahe, and Newton. There are also a number of sections on the historical development of relativity theory.
• The Galileo Project Homepage @ Rice University
• Science and Human Values Fred Wilson, RIT
• Internet History of Science Sourcebook Paul Halsall.
  A very extensive college level reference site. Includes many links on very specific topics and texts from primary source material.
• Journal for the History of Astronomy Science History Publications Ltd., UK
• Also browse the other history pages. Contents.

History of Particular Astronomy Subfields

• The Height of the Sky A look at the history of determining how far away celestial objects are. This is a sample chapter from the book Fire in the Mind - Science, Faith, and the Search for Order (Knopf 1995/Vintage 1996) by George Johnson.
• The History of Radio Astronomy UREI-Radio Astronomy Tutorial, MIT Haystack Observatory.
• Early History of Radio Astronomy NRAO
• What is the history of solar physics? and Great Moments in Solar Physics @ About the Sun by the High Altitude Observatory.
• Speed of Light - Describes how the speed of light was measured by Alwyn Botha.
• History of Astronomical Spectroscopy @ Laser Stars
• Also see the website's references to Scientific Biographies and Quotations
• Chandra X-Ray Observatory - Xray Astronomy Field Guide (AXAF)
  Has some astronomy history related to x-ray astronomy.
• History of Cosmic Ray Studies @ Cosmic and Heliospheric Learning Center associated with the ACE spacecraft.
• A Brief History of High-Energy Astrophysics (NASA GSFC HEASARC)
• Brief History of Cosmology @ Cambridge Relativity
• A Brief History of Cosmology @ History of Mathematics @ Mac Tutor.
• Also see Cosmology links.
• Extrasolar Planets "The Search for the Extrasolar Planets: A Brief History of the Search, the Findings and the Future Implications" by George H. Bell, @ Arizona State University.
• More about Extrasolar Planets.
• Meteoritics A brief history of the early science of meteorites. Meteorlab.Com.
• A Brief History of Comets I (until 1950) ESO.
• Dream: History of Planetarium by Mark Chartrand, in IPS Planetarian, September 1973.
• Science Museum, National Museum of Science and Technology, London, UK.
• Eclipse! -- The history of eclipse watching to the present day
• Time keeping, calendar, and navigation links are on the Time & Navigation Page.
• Also see Technology History Links.
• Also see The Sun page.
• Also see The Planetary Science page.
• Also see Astronomy by Wavelength
• Websites about your subject may carry some history. Be sure to check those. Check for topics on the Main Astronomy Page.

Object Observation History

• JPL Solar System Dynamics
• Great Comets in History
• Earth's Sister and the Twilight Planet
  Venus and Mercury observation before the flight of Mariner 10. SP-424 The Voyage of Mariner 10.
• Transit of Venus Bibliography
• Mars in the Mind of Earth an extensive bibliography collection by Univ. of Michigan librarian Gene Alloway. Updated. Thank you for writing me.
• The Story of Saturn NASA JPL Cassini Huygens Mission.
• Lunar theory before 1964 in Lunar Impact, A History of Project Ranger. NASA SP-4210.
• History of Crab Nebula Observations
• Historical Supernovae @ ASTRO 201 General Topics (Cornell Univ. course)

Histories of Related Fields

• Chem 103 Notes - History of Science by Paul Charlesworth. Michigan Tech.
  From prehistory to the beginning of nuclear physics. The focus of these pages is chemistry, yet it also encompasses a broadrer scope of science history. Includes short biographies of early chemists and physicists.
• Carmen Giunta's classic chemistry page has Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry (and alphabetical version) which includes papers relevant to physics, and indirectly, relevant to astronomy. Also has This Week in the History of Chemistry.
• ChemTeam- Classic Papers Menu
• Book review of Prometheans In The Lab by Sharon McGrayne by Popular Mechanics. The book is about the chemists behind the major developments in chemistry since the French Revolution.
• Atomic Structure Timeline Watertown High School , Watertown, Wisconsin.
• Center for History of Physics @ AIP
• 100 Years of Radioactivity History by Didier Verkindt.
• Neutrino History
• The X-Ray Century - 1896 A series of historical articles from when X-Rays were first discovered. Emory Univ.
• History of Electricity & Magnetism by Michael Fowler
• IEEE History Center
• Links
• Lines and Waves Exhibit
• Prof. L.S. Taylor, Univ. of Md.:
• An Anecdotal History of Optics from Aristophanes to Zernike
• Taylor's Gallery of Electromagnetic Personalities! A Vignette History.
• A Brief History of Electronics, 1745 - 1820's
  The Millennium Education Group, Dennis Ramsey.
• Background of the SI Units NIST
• Steam Engine Library Univ. of Rochester. Background and applications of thermodynamics.
• Changing views of the history of the Earth , Richard Harter
  (URL updated July 21, 2002 -- thanks for writing me.)
• Technology History Links compiled by REFSTAR.
• Also see History of Technology and Math
• Also see Astronautics History.
• Also see Related Sciences Pages.
• There are several website about the discovery of the electron in the Physics section.
• My Radio Bookmarks page has a Radio History section.

Astronomy Courses with History

• Astronomy 191 - The Solar System University of Kentucky
  Information about the planets, plus some historical astronomy.
• Astronomy 161 Univ. of Tenn.
• ASTR 106 by Prof. Arnold Lesiker, St. Cloud State University, MN
• Astronomy 121 - Planets Davison E. Soper, Univ. of Oregon. Basic level.
• Undergraduate Astronomy Class @ Univ. of Tulsa
• Early Cosmology
• ASTRO 201 General Topics Cornell Univ.
• Galileo & Einstein by Michael Fowler (home page of Physics 109N course for non-scientists)
• Also see the Course Notes Page.

History Courses with some Astronomy

• Science A-17 the Astronomical Perspective Harvard University.
• History 291 Princeton Univ. Many pages illustrating ideas and tools in the history of science.
• PHIL 377: History and Philosophy of Science a course with extensive notes, discussions, and references to many sources; by Dr. Charles Ess, Philosophy and Religion Department / Drury College.
• Paragone Arch. 543P course website at Pratt. Has a collection of reference pages on some selected history of science and math topics that may be useful to you. These include some biographies. The pages are adapted from an encyclopedia. Includes:
• History of Physics
• History of Mathematics

Historical Collections and Artifacts

• Historical Celestial Atlases on the Web
• Science Museum, National Museum of Science and Technology, London, UK.
• Treasures of the Science Museum
• History of Astronomy, Adler Planetarium
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• Voyages - A Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition
• Journeys of the Mind - Explaining the Heavens
• Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
• Antique Telescope Society
• University of Toronto Museum of Scientific Instruments
  The collections includes a section of astronomical instruments.
• The Face of the Moon -- Galileo to Apollo -- An Exhibit of Rare Books & Maps from the Collections of the Linda Hall Library (Kansas City, Missouri)
• Barry Malpas: Antique Astronomy Postcards
• Digital Archive of Historical Astronomy Pictures
• 'The topography of the sky- celestial maps gave order to the universe' by Peter Whitfield - Mercator's World Magazine, 1997.
• Photo Library for History of Science
  This has photographs of some Korean and Chinese observing sites and devices, plus some pictures from Western history of astronomy. @ History of Science by Prof. Shigeru Jochi.
• Also see the Book Links Page for historical books online.
• Actually, you will find artifacts in a number of other websites on my pages. It's not worth my time to try to list them here.

Other History of Science Websites

• Beginner's Guide to Research in the History of Science
• Geometry.Net A collection of math and science links. Searchable.
• WWW Sites for Historians, Univ. of North Texas History Dept.:
• History of Science
• Science Textbooks and Historical Science Online Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia.
• Yahoo: History . Science

General History Websites

• Time Team Channel 4 (UK). Also see Science of the Past
• BBC - History
• History-Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers
• Discovery.Com A to Z History -- Student Channel history encyclopedia online
• History Matters- The U.S. Survey on the Web
• Multimedia History Tutorials @ the University of Calgary
  In particular, they have tutorials about Medieval Europe and Islamic Civilization up to 1600. Included are bibiliographies and links for further research.
• History Channel
• Spartacus Encylopedia UK
• Eyewitness - History through the eyes of those who witnessed it by Ibis Communications.
• World Civilizations Washington State University.
• Minnesota State EMuseum
  History and culture pages.
• Global History Consortium- Teaching World History The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
• History Heaven links.
• Ancient History Timelines by Anthony Michael Love
• Archaeological Resource Guide for Europe
• Info USA by the U.S. Dept. of State. Links to information about the United States.
• The Danger of Historical Amnesia, A Conversation with Writer David McCullough
  Nat'l Endowment for the Humanities.
• Reading, Writing and Researching for History Undergraduates Bowdoin College, Dept. of History.
• Guide to Writing History Papers Todd Carney, Southern Oregon University.

Some Book Suggestions

• A History of Astronomy by Anton Pannekoek. 1961. Dover.
• A Short History of Astronomy -- From Earliest Times Through the 19th Century by Arthur Berry. Originally published in 1898, published by Dover in 1961.
• The Exact Sciences in Antiquity by O. Neugebauer. 1969. Dover.
• Astronomy of the Ancients by Kenneth Brecher and Michael Seirthag. 1979. M.I.T. Press.
• The Copernican Revolution by Thomas S. Kuhn. 1957. Harvard University Press
• The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy, edited by Michael Hoskin. 1997. Cambridge University Press.
• Mathematics in Western Culture by Morris Kline. 1953. Oxford University Press.
• The Extension of Man--The History of Physics before the Modern Age by J.D. Bernal. 1972. MIT Press.
• Crucibles - The Story of Chemistry - From Ancient Alchemy to Nuclear Fission by Bernard Jaffe. © 1930, 1942, 1948, 1976. Dover.
• Each history topic page also has specific book suggestions.
• More book suggestions on my Book Suggestions Page.
• Other Book Suggestion Places
• See the Book Links Page
• Cambridge University Press History of Science Books

Related Pages on this Website

• General Astronomy References
• Course Notes Page
• Astronomy & Culture
• Time & Navigation
• Astronomers in Their Own Words
• My Intermediate Astronomy Book Suggestions
• Some Research References