Chasing Venus

United by the transit of Venus, scientists from around the globe came together to answer the essential question: how can the universe be measured? The author paints a portrait of the rivalries, triumphs and misfortunes that befell these men, along with their passion and determination to succeed.

Informationen zum Autor Andrea Wulf is the author of several books, including The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World (Winner of the 2015 Costa Biography Award and the 2016 Royal Society Science Book Prize) and Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self . A member of PEN American Center and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she is currently a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute. Klappentext On two days in 1761 and 1769 hundreds of astronomers pointed their telescopes towards the skies to observe a rare astronomical event: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. United by this momentous occasion, scientists from around the globe came together to answer the essential question: how can the universe be measured? Zusammenfassung On two days in 1761 and 1769 hundreds of astronomers pointed their telescopes towards the skies to observe a rare astronomical event: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. United by this momentous occasion, scientists from around the globe came together to answer the essential question: how can the universe be measured?

Vorwort
The fascinating story of the world's first international scientific collaboration.

Autorentext

Andrea Wulf

Klappentext

On two days in 1761 and 1769 hundreds of astronomers pointed their telescopes towards the skies to observe a rare astronomical event: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. United by this momentous occasion, scientists from around the globe came together to answer the essential question: how can the universe be measured?