*************************************************************************** * * * ELEKTRONISCHE MITTEILUNGEN ZUR ASTRONOMIEGESCHICHTE * * * * Herausgegeben vom Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte * * in der Astronomischen Gesellschaft * * * * Nr. 13, 29. Januar 1996 * * * * Redaktion: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick * * * *************************************************************************** Inhalt ------ In eigener Sache 1. R. W. Home: Towards an International Bibliographical Database in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine 2. Studienreise "Astronomie in China" 3. Exhibit at Kansas City, MO, USA 4. Tagungskalender 1996 5. Neue Buecher Danksagung Impressum ........................................................................... In eigener Sache ---------------- Die Elektronischen Mitteilungen Nr. 13, wie konnte es bei so einer Unglueckszahl anders sein, waren von einem schwerwiegenden technischen Problem betroffen. Obwohl seit 22. Dezember 1995 zur Verteilung fertig, koennen sie erst jetzt versandt werden, nachdem ein Router in Berlin ein neues Betriebssystem erhalten hat. Wegen dieser Stoerung im Internet-Anschluss konnten auch die WWW-Seiten zur Astronomiegeschichte in Bonn (http://aibn55.astro.uni-bonn.de:8000/~pbrosche/astoria.html) laengere Zeit nicht bearbeitet werden. Diese sind nun betraechtlich erweitert worden. In EMA 13 wird zum ersten Mal eine Copyright-Politik der Redaktion formuliert. Das Impressum gibt Auskunft. Ich wuensche allen Lesern ein frohes Jahr 1996! Wolfgang R. Dick ........................................................................... Item 1 EMA Nr. 13, 29. Jan. 1996 ........................................................................... Towards an International Bibliographical Database in the History of ------------------------------------------------------------------- Science, Technology and Medicine -------------------------------- By R. W. Home, Parkville, Australia A workshop on bibliographical tools in the history of science, technology and medicine, sponsored by the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation of the Division of History of Science, IUHPS, was held at Liege, Belgium, on 25-26 September 1995. Hosted by Professor Robert Halleux, Secretary-General of DHS and Head of the Centre d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, Universite de Liege, the meeting brought together the compilers of a number of the leading bibliographies covering aspects of current work in the history of science, technology and medicine that are published on a serial basis throughout the world, and a number of interested historians of science. At an earlier meeting held at Trento, Italy, in 1992, a proposal had been advanced to make the information contained in these bibliographies more widely available by developing a unified international bibliographical database in electronic form. The present meeting was intended to advance this project. Some of the most important existing bibliographies are already available on-line, and the meeting saw impressive demonstrations of the History of Science and Technology (HST) file maintained by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) in the USA and made available through the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) subscription service, and of the on-line version of the Italian national bibliography of the history of science, Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza (BISS). The HST file includes the bibliographies of the history of science published annually in Isis since 1976, and the bibliographies of the history of technology published in Technology and Culture since 1987. The electronic file has a variety of indexes that are not available in the better-known paper versions, and may be searched by subject or title word as well as alphabetical phrase listing. It thus constitutes an even more valuable tool for the researcher. The meeting was told that an agreement has recently been signed that will see the very large French database, FRANCIS, that includes the bibliographies of the history of science formerly published in the Bulletin signaletique series, mounted on RLIN. Once this is done, RLG and INIST, the organization responsible for FRANCIS, could explore the possibility of adding a copy of the history of science segment to the existing HST file, thus very considerably enriching the latter. In addition, negotiations are well advanced to add the BISS database to the HST file, while also leaving it available free through the Internet. The meeting noted that several other bibliographies are produced regularly, some on a national basis (e.g. Australia, Belgium, Spain), others covering specific subject areas in the history of science (e.g. metrology, oceanography, scientific instruments). There are also two major bibliographies reporting current work in the history of medicine, the Bibliography of the History of Medicine produced by the National Library of Medicine in the USA and Current Work in the History of Medicine, produced by the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in the UK, both of which were represented at the meeting. The former of these has long been accessible electronically as part of the enormous medical database, MEDLINE, and it has recently been decided that in future it will only be accessible in that form. Two important listings unfortunately seem recently to have ceased being produced, namely the bibliography of Russian work in the history of science and technology that was published for many years by the Institute for the History of Science and Technology in Moscow and the very valuable bibliography of the history of natural history that was produced for a number of years by the Natural History Museum in London. The meeting was told that the future of the history of science segment of FRANCIS was far from secure, and it was agreed that the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation should make representations to the relevant French authorities, urging upon them the importance of maintaining and even strengthening the systematic bibliographical coverage of francophone work in this field. It was also agreed that representations should be made to the National Library of Medicine concerning the desirability of maintaining a printed version of its bibliography of the history of medicine. It was noted that at present, no bibliographies are being regularly produced covering the work being done by several major national or regional groups of historians of science and technology, including those in India, Latin America and the Muslim world. The lack of systematic bibliographical coverage of German-language publications was particularly striking. The meeting considered at length the means by which the proposed database might be made accessible to users. For individual compilers simply to put their products "free to air" would be a recipe for chaos: active management of the files, such as is provided for the HST data base on RLIN, will become more and more necessary as more files are brought into the scheme. This, however, generates costs which, in the case of RLIN, are covered by the fees paid by institutional subscribers to the service. (The fee payable currently varies from US$570 to $900 per annum for up to five simultaneous users, or $1,480 to $2,610 for up to 25 simultaneous users, depending on whether the subscribing institution is a member of RLG and on whether the HST subscription is linked to RLG's RLIN Bibliographic database.) These costs would have to be met in some way, however the scheme were to be run. At the same time, it was agreed that it was important to ensure that access to the scheme was not confined to the privileged few but that it was open to all potential users. At present, some sixty-one institutions, mostly universities through their libraries, subscribe to the service and provide free access to users within that institution. The possibility was noted of a consortium of libraries taking out a combined subscription to RLIN's HST file, as had been done by a group of eighteen university libraries in Ohio, and by a group of university libraries in Australia, in each case substantially reducing the subscription that had to be paid by individual participating libraries. The RLG representative at the meeting, John Haeger, indicated that his organization would also be prepared to explore other options that would help reduce the cost to individual users. The meeting also considered some of the technical problems in maintaining world-wide access to a database, especially in relation to the slowness with which the system operated during busy periods (a problem that was all too evident during the demonstration at the meeting of the RLIN system). The possibility of establishing "mirror" sites on different continents was aired but was discounted by John Haeger on behalf of RLG on the ground of cost. He explained that RLG's preferred alternative was to establish dedicated lines - as many as necessary - on routes such as the transatlantic link where the open network was consistently overloaded and slow; the HST file was, comparatively speaking, a very small segment of the RLIN operation, but subscribers to it would automatically benefit from the fact that RLG had recently entered into agreements with major European libraries that would require it to maintain high-quality intercontinental linkages. Following extensive discussion of the issues involved, the meeting agreed to report to the Executive Committee of the Division of History of Science the Commission's aim of creating a world bibliographical database of current work in the history of science, technology and medicine, and to recommend that the existing HST file on RLIN be used as the starting point of the proposed database. The Commission supported the bibliographical initiatives of RLG in the field of the history of science, technology and medicine, and would endorse efforts by different European partners to initiate or develop on-line bibliographical works in this field with the support of the European Union. While noting that the choice as to whether additional national or thematic bibliographies should seek to adhere to RLIN was entirely at the discretion of their initiators, the Commission would warmly encourage them to do so. European members of the Commission (from Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy) observed that, apart from the bibliographies produced by the Wellcome Institute and the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, bibliographical work in the field of the history of science, technology and medicine needed to be strengthened within the countries of the European Union. In particular, it should be revived in France, improved in Belgium and initiated in Germany. These partners agreed to put forward a project to the European Union, seeking finance to set up a common database. This partnership would initially involve Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and would subsequently incorporate the other countries of the Union. The partnership would ultimately be enlarged to include Turkey, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The meeting noted that a set of bibliographical guidelines needed to be prepared for the proposed international database, that could be made available to all national or other teams planning to elaborate a bibliography with a view to having it incorporated in the international database. A working group was appointed, comprising Anna Citernesi (Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza), Henry Lowood (Stanford University) and John Neu (University of Wisconsin), to define these guidelines. It is envisaged that the working group will submit a preliminary report in the Spring of 1996. Once the guidelines are agreed, the Commission will make them available to all interested groups. Anyone wishing to be sent a copy should contact Dr Lowood, joint secretary of the Commission, at Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA 94305-6004, USA (fax: (415) 725 1068. e-mail: henry.lowood@forsythe.stanford.edu). Author's address: R. W. Home Department of History and Philosophy of Science University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria 3052 Australia E-mail: Rod_Home@muwayf.unimelb.edu.au Editor's note: Prof. R. W. Home is President of the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS). ........................................................................... Item 2 EMA Nr. 13, 29. Jan. 1996 ........................................................................... Studienreise "Astronomie in China" ---------------------------------- Die zum zweiten Mal durchgefuehrte Studienreise vertieft die Kenntnisse ueber historische und moderne Astronomie in China. Sie fuehrt von den historischen Sternwarten in Dengfeng und Beijing bis zum modernen 2m-Teleskop in Xinglong. In Gespraechen mit fuehrenden Astronomen lernen die Reiseteilnehmer die aktuellen Forschungsergebnisse kennen. Termin: 20.7.-10.8.1996, Preis: ca. 6600,- DM Veranstalter: Eckehard Schmidt, Postfach 4616, D-90025 Nuernberg, Tel. 0911-5865512 (Mo-Fr 8-14 Uhr), Fax 0911-5865549. Informationen kostenlos und unverbindlich anfordern. ........................................................................... Item 3 EMA Nr. 13, 29. Jan. 1996 ........................................................................... Exhibit at Kansas City, MO, USA ------------------------------- "Out of This World: The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas" is an exhibit running at the Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, MO, USA, from November 1, 1995, to February 1, 1996. The exhibit displays forty-three star atlases and maps covering the period from 1482 to 1851. It includes all of the famous atlases, such as those of Bayer, Schiller, Hevelius, Flamsteed, and Bode, and well as many lesser known but highly appealing atlases. More information and an electronic catalog of this exhibition is available on the World Wide Web at URL http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/pubserv/hos/stars/welcome.htm or from the Library home page at http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us . Comments, suggestions, or criticisms are welcome to: William B. Ashworth, Jr. Associate Professor, Dept. of History, University of Missouri--KC Consultant, History of Science Collection, Linda Hall Library, 5109 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO 64110, USA E-mail: ashwortb@lhl.lib.mo.us, Voice-mail: (816) 926-8719, Fax: (816) 926-8790 ........................................................................... Item 4 EMA Nr. 13, 29. Jan. 1996 ........................................................................... Tagungskalender 1996 -------------------- 14.-15. Januar 1996, San Antonio, TX, USA 187th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Historical Astronomy Division sessions: Sunday, January 14, 1:00-5:00pm Monday, January 15, 10:45am-12:15pm, 2:45-4:15pm HAD will hold three sessions. On Sunday afternoon, "Applied History of Astronomy" will explore the uses of historical documentation and analysis for solving current problems in astronomy and astrophysics. This session will include both invited and contributed papers. On Monday, two sessions will be devoted to contributed papers. Papers on ancient astronomies and on recent or current astronomies of non-Western cultures will be put in the morning session, "Astronomies and Cultures." In the afternoon, "The Western Tradition" will cover the line of astronomy from the Middle Ages to the present day; from Sacrobosco to the Space Telescope, one might say. For more information, contact Woody Sullivan at woody@astro.washington.edu [Source: http://www.aas.org/meetings/aas187/prelim/had2.html] 22. Januar 1996 10. Dahlemer Archivgespraech. Prof. Dr. Dieter B. Herrmann: 100 Jahre Archenhold-Sternwarte Ort: Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Boltzmannstrasse 14, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem, Naehe U-Bahnhof Thielplatz Wegen der begrenzten Zahl verfuegbarer Plaetze wird um telefonische Anmeldung gebeten: Tel. (030) 841 33 701 (Mo - Fr 8 - 16 Uhr) 6.-9. Maerz 1996, Potsdam, BRD Tagung der Potsdamer Urania: "Bruno H. Buergel - Leben und Werk". Ein Tagungsband ist geplant. Vortragsanmeldung: Urania-Verein "Wilhelm Foerster", Brandenburger Str. 38, D-14467 Potsdam, Tel. (0331) 291741, Fax (0331) 293683 16.-19. Mai 1996, Oberschleissheim-Lustheim bei Muenchen, BRD 25. Jahrestagung des Arbeitskreises Sonnenuhren Anmeldung bis 31. Januar an: Guenther Berger, Nadistr. 18, D-80809 Muenchen, Tel. und Fax (089) 351 12 03 8.-9. Juni 1996, Feriensternwarte Calina, Schweiz Kolloquium "Die Geschichte der Astronomie" Information und Anmeldung: Hans Bodmer, Schlottenbueelstr. 9b, CH-8625 Gossau/ZH, Tel. (++01) 9361830 (abends) 7.-11. August 1996, Budapest, Ungarn Symposium of the International Committee for the History of Technology Contacts: Hans-Joachim Braun, Universitaet der Bundeswehr Hamburg, D-22039 Hamburg, Tel. (040) 6541-2794, Fax (040) 6541-2762, e-mail: HJ-BRAUN@unibw-hamburg.de 20.-21. September 1996, Kremsmuenster, Oesterreich Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgruppe Sonnenuhren im Oesterreichischen Astronomischen Verein Informationen: Dipl.Ing. Karl Schwarzinger, Am Tigls 76A, A-6073 Sistrans, Tel. u. Fax: 0512 / 37 88 68 12. Oktober 1996, Berlin, BRD 100 Jahre Archenhold-Sternwarte. Festveranstaltung ab 11 Uhr Archenhold-Sternwarte, Alt-Treptow 1, D-12435 Berlin, Tel. (030) 5348080, Fax (030) 5348083 ........................................................................... Item 5 EMA Nr. 13, 29. Jan. 1996 ........................................................................... Neue Buecher ------------ Boelling, Reinhard (Hrsg.): Das Fotoalbum fuer Weierstrass. A Photo Album for Weierstrass. Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994. XII, 116 S., 29.7 x 21 cm, ISBN 3-528-06602-4, geb. DM 98,- [2 Fotoalben, von Schuelern, Kollegen und Freunden Weierstrass's zu dessen 70. Geburtstag 1885 zusammengestellt; enthaelt etwa 340 Bildnisse von Mathematiker, Astronomen und Physikern] Brosche, Peter: Astronomie der Goethezeit. Textsammlung aus Zeitschriften und Briefen Franz Xaver von Zachs. Thun, Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Harri Deutsch, 1995. 230 S., 20 Abb., ISBN 3-8171-3280-8, DM 38.00 (= Ostwalds Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften, Bd. 280) Clagett, Marshall: Ancient Egyptian science, vol. II: calendars, clocks and astronomy. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1995, $ 50 (= Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 214) [Distribution: American Philosophical Society, P.O. Box 40098, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA, Fax: 215-440-3450] Colwell, P.: Solving Kepler's equation over three centuries. Richmond, VA: Willmann-Bell, 1993. Pp. 212, ISBN 0-943396-40-9, US$ 24.95 Fischer, Daniel; Duerbeck, Hilmar W.: Hubble: Ein neues Fenster zum All. Basel: Birkhaeuser Verlag, 1995. 174 S., ca. 60 Farb- u. 30 s/w-Abb., ISBN 3-7643-5201-9, geb. DM 68.00, SFr 58.00 [Allgemeinverstaendliche Darstellung des Hubble-Projektes und der wissenschaftlichen Resultate, mit kurzem historischen Ueberblick ueber irdische Teleskope und die Planung und den Bau des HST] Florence, R.: The perfect machine. Building the Palomar telescope. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1994. Pp. 461, ISBN 0-06-018205-9, US$ 27.50 Gehlhar, Fritz: Wie der Mensch seinen Kosmos schuf. Eine kleine Kulturgeschichte der Astronomie. Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 1995. ca. 200 S., ca. 60 Abb., ISBN 3-7466-8018-2, Br DM 14.90 (= Aufbau Taschenbuch, 8018) Hawlitschek, Kurt: Johann Faulhaber 1580 - 1635. Eine Bluetezeit der mathematischen Wissenschaften in Ulm. Ulm, 1995. 336 S., zahlr. Abb., Kart. DM 29.80 (= Veroeffentl. der Stadtbibliothek Ulm, 18) [auch ueber Faulhabers wissenschaftlichen Austausch mit Johannes Kepler] Kilmister, C.W.: Eddington's search for a fundamental theory. A key to the Universe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. 256, ISBN 0-521-37165-1, GBP 35, $ 59.95 (hb) Rezension: L.Mestel: The Observatory 115 (1995) 1128, 272-273 Krige, John; Russo, Arturo: Europe in space 1960 - 1973. Paris: European Space Agency, 1994. Pp. 150, ISBN 92-9092-125-0, Dfl. 70.00 Leverington, David: A history of astronomy from 1890 to the present. London, Berlin, Heidelberg et al.: Springer-Verlag, 1995. Pp. xii, 387, ISBN 3-540-19915-2, DM 48.00 (pb) Mercator, Gerhard: Atlas. Kosmographische Gedanken ueber die Erschaffung der Welt und ihre kartographische Gestalt. W. Kruecken (Hrsg.). Duisburg: Gert Wohlfahrth Verlag Fachtechnik, 1994. 240 S., ISBN 3-87463-217-2, geb. DM 34,- (= Ed. Mercator) [Reprint von Mercators Atlas-Werk von 1595, zum ersten Mal mit komplettem Vorwort in Uebersetzung und ausfuehrlicher Kommentierung] Peterson, Ivars: Was Newton nicht wusste. Chaos im Sonnensystem. Basel: Birkhaeuser Verlag, 1994. 347 S., ISBN 3-7643-2978-5, DM 68.00 [Uebersetzung von Newton's clock: chaos in the solar system, 1994] Zenkert, Arnold: Faszination Sonnenuhr. 2. ueberarb. u. erw. Aufl. Thun, Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Harri Deutsch, 1995. 164 S., 55 Fotos, 80 Zeichn., ISBN 3-8171-1386-2, Kt ca. DM 29.80 [auch ueber Geschichte der Sonnenuhren] Zur Geschichte des Vermessungswesens. Vermessung in der Antike, Historische Karten, Der Geodaet in der Literatur und bildenden Kunst, Biographien, Basisvermessungen, Instrumentenbau, Grenzmale. Wiesbaden: Verlag Chmielorz GmbH, 1995. 123 S., ISBN 3-87124-128-8 (= VDV-Schriftenreihe, Bd. 8) [Die Beitraege sind Helmut Minow gewidmet, dem Mitbegruender und langjaehrigen Leiter des Gespraechskreises "Geschichte des Vermessungswesens" im VDV und der spaeteren gleichnamigen Fachgruppe im Bildungswerk VDV. Enthaelt u.a.: M.A.Rappenglueck, Messen mit Schnur und Stab - Lepinski Vir vor 7000 Jahren; B.Zimmermann, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel und die ostpreussische Gradmessung; G.Opdenberg, Historische Vermessungsinstrumente.] ........................................................................... Danksagung ---------- Neben den Autoren von Beitraegen sei fuer Informationen gedankt: William B. Ashworth (Kansas City), Guenther Berger (Muenchen), Peter Brosche (Daun), Ernst Buschmann (Potsdam), Hilmar Duerbeck (Muenster), Eckehard Schmidt (Nuernberg), Karl Schwarzinger (Sistrans), Giancarlo Truffa (Milano). ........................................................................... Impressum --------- Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte (EMA) Herausgegeben vom Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte in der Astronomischen Gesellschaft Redaktion: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick Alle nicht namentlich gekennzeichneten Mitteilungen sind redaktionelle Beitraege. Aufsaetze sowie Mitteilungen fuer die Rubriken werden gern entgegengenommen. Der Bezug der EMA ist kostenlos. Abonnenten und Leser werden um gelegentliche freiwillige Spenden an den Arbeitskreis gebeten. Die Elektronischen Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte duerfen unbegrenzt weiterverbreitet werden, sofern dafuer keine Gebuehr erhoben wird. Ein oeffentliches Angebot in WWW-Servern, BBS etc. ist gestattet, sofern die Redaktion informiert wird. Die Reproduktion von Auszuegen zu nichtgewerblichen Zwecken in elektronischen oder Druckmedien ist nur unter genauer Quellenangabe gestattet; die Redaktion ist zu informieren. (Gedruckte) Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte: Preis: 1,50 DM/Ausgabe zzgl. Versandkosten Ausserhalb der BRD: kostenfrei, Spenden erwuenscht Bezug: Einsendung von 2,50 DM (Einzelheft) oder 5,- DM (Nr. 6-7) in Briefmarken an die Redaktion Redaktion: Dr. W. R. Dick, Otterkiez 14, D-14478 Potsdam, Tel.: (+331) 863199 Astronomische Gesellschaft: Vorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Hanns Ruder, Universitaet Tuebingen, Theoretische Astrophysik und Computational Physics, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, D-72076 Tuebingen Schriftfuehrer: Dr. Reinhard Schielicke, Universitaetssternwarte, Schillergaesschen 2, D-07745 Jena, Tel.: (+3641) 63 03 36, E-mail: schie@georg.astro.uni-jena.de Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte: URL: http://aibn55.astro.uni-bonn.de:8000/~pbrosche/astoria.html Vorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Peter Brosche, Observatorium Hoher List der Sternwarte der Universitaet Bonn, D-54550 Daun, Tel.: (+6592) 2150, Fax: (+6592) 2937 Sekretaer: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick, Institut fuer Angewandte Geodaesie, Aussenstelle Potsdam, Postfach 60 08 08, D-14408 Potsdam, Tel.: (+331) 316 619, E-mail: wdi@potsdam.ifag.de Sekretaer fuer Oeffentlichkeitsarbeit: Dr. Gudrun Wolfschmidt, Deutsches Museum, Museumsinsel 1, D-80538 Muenchen, Tel.: (+89) 2179 277, Fax: (+89) 2179 324, E-mail: kdq01ag@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de Schatzmeister: Dr. Reinhard Schielicke, Universitaetssternwarte, Schillergaesschen 2, D-07745 Jena, Tel.: (+3641) 63 03 36, E-mail: schie@georg.astro.uni-jena.de Spendenkonto der Astronomischen Gesellschaft: Konto-Nr. 333 410 41, Sparkasse Bochum (BLZ 430 500 01) Ueberweisungen aus dem Ausland: Konto Nr. 162 18-203, Postgiroamt Hamburg, BLZ 200 400 20 Alle Einzahlungen bitte mit dem Vermerk "Fuer Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte" ***************************************************************************