Comets, Cosmology and the Big Bang

"Allan Chapman writes with clarity and energy in a manner designed to both inform the general reader and stimulate thought. Engagingly written, and with great authority, he combines a manageable level of detail regarding this vast subject, with his own personal insights and experiences. His work enables the reader to both grapple with the complex historical 'big picture' of unfolding ideas over the centuries, while also appreciating the significant impact and discoveries of individual pioneers in the field. Allan is not afraid to offer challenging personal insights and raises important questions for the reader to consider. This is an engaging, detailed, informative and thought-provoking book." Martyn Whittock, historian, teacher, and writer "A fascinating narrative, full of delightful anecdotes, giving a very readable overview of astronomy and our understanding of the universe." Martin Grossel, Emeritus Fellow in Organic Chemistry at the University of Southampton "Allan Chapman is a polymath, celebrated for his superb lectures on astronomical history. This engrossing book contains an immense amount of recondite information. His lively writing retains the flavour of his lectures, and will enlighten, fascinate and entertain anyone interested in science and its social context." Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal

Dr Allan Chapman is a historian of science at Oxford University, with special interests in the history of astronomy and of medicine and the relationship between science and Christianity. As well as University teaching, he lectures widely, has written a dozen books and numerous academic articles, and written and presented two TV series, Gods in the Sky and Great Scientists, besides taking part in many other history of science TV documentaries and in The Sky at Night with Sir Patrick Moore. He has received honorary doctorates and awards from the Universities of Central Lancashire, Salford, and Lancaster, and in 2015 was presented with the Jackson-Gwilt Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society. Among his books are Slaying the Dragons. Destroying Myths in the History of Science and Faith (Lion Hudson, 2013), Stargazers: Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope, and the Church. The Astronomical Renaissance, 1500-1700 (Lion, 2014), and Physicians, Plagues, and Progress. The History of Western Medicine from Antiquity to Antibiotics (Lion, 2016). He is also the author of the scientific biographies England's Leonardo. Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-Century Scientific Revolution (Institute of Physics, 2005), Mary Somerville and the World of Science (Canopus, 2004; Springer, 2015), and The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820-1920 (Wiley-Praxis, 1998; revised edn. Gracewing, 2017).

COntents Acknowledgments 18 Preface 21 1 From the Beginning to 1700: The Origins of Astronomy The origins of astronomy 26 The earliest astronomers 27 What made the Greek experience 29 central to Western thought? Medieval consolidation 32 Europes astronomical Renaissance 35 2 Cosmology Begins at Home: Captain Edmond Halley, 41 FRS, RN, Astronomer, Geophysicist, and Adventurer The schoolboy scientist 42 Early adventures: St Helena, Danzig, and across 44 Europe: the making of a physical scientist Edmond Halley, the father of meteorology 47 and geophysics Later adventures: Captain Halley RN takes 50 HMS Paramore among the icebergs Professor Halley and the Great Aurora Borealis 51 of 1716 Halley studies the nebulae and ponders 53 cosmological vastness 3 Could a Comet Have Caused Noahs Flood? Changing views about comets, 15801720 57 Dr Robert Hooke takes comets into the chemical 59 laboratory in 1677 Comets tamed at last: 16801705 61 Noahs Flood, the ancient earth, comets, 62 and the saltiness of the sea Edmond Halley: the Astronomer Royal 64 and the longitude, 172042 Religion and politics, a merry life and a 69 sudden death 4 Let there be more light. How Telescope Technology Became the Arbiter in Cosmological Research Long telescopes on tall poles 73 All done with mirrors: the early reflecting telescope 77 John Hadley and his Newtonian 79 reflecting telescope A golden guinea an inch: James Short turns the 81 reflecting telescope into big business John Dollond perfects the refracting telescope 84 c. 1760 Every gentleman must have one! 86 Benjamin Martin, lecturer, and entrepreneur, makes scientific instruments fashionable 5 The Rector and the Organist: Gravity, Star Clusters, and the Origins of the Milky Way Thomas Wright of Durham and eighteenth-century 89 speculative cosmologies The Revd John Michell: the Pleiades Cluster, dark 91 stars, and gravitational black holes in 1783 Charles Messier: comet hunter and nebula 93 cataloguer of the Ancien Rgime in Paris The enterprising oboist: Herschel comes 94 to England Herschel the fashionable church organist 97 and musical impresario of Bath From organ pipes to telescopes, from acoustics 98 to optics, and on to cosmology Bath, 13 March 1781: William Herschel 100 discovers a comet 6 William and Caroline Herschel Fathom the 104 Construction of the Heavens from an English Country Garden William Herschels telescope technology 106 Observing with a Herschel telescope 107 Stars, the Milky Way, and the Construction of 109 the Heavens after 1784 Oh Herschel! Oh Herschel! Where do you fly? 112 To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky Shining fluids, glowing rings of light, star 113 clusters, and gravity: the Herschelian universe Observatory House, 1784: an account by a 116 visiting French savant Sir William Herschel, Knight Guelph 118 A Herschel telescope postscript 119 7 Measuring the Heavens and the Earth in Eighteenth- Century Europe Part 1: In Pursuit of Venus: Astronomys First Great International Adventure In pursuit of the solar parallax 122 Venus in transit, June 1761 125 Venus transits the sun in 1769 129 Le Gentil and the 1769 transit 133 Practical observation, Venus, and the longitude 134 8 Measuring the Heavens and the Earth in Eighteenth- Century Europe Part 2: Pendulums, Planets, and Gravity: Creating the Science of Geodesy The curious behaviour of M. Richers clock: 140 Cayenne, Brazil, 1672 Geophysics by degrees and the shape of the earth 142 The Astronomer Royal, the mountain, and 147 the village fiddler Geophysics goes to the laboratory: 149 Henry Cavendish and the torsion balance experiment, 179798 9 Cosmology and the Romantic Age 152 From daffodil fields to starry fields: a universe of 152 awe and wonder Laws of wonder: Herschel, Laplace, 153 and the laws of gravitation Mysteries beyond the spectrum: 156 Sir William Herschel discovers the dark spectrum in 1800 Science for Georgian la