*************************************************************************** * * * ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER FOR THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY * * * * Published by the Working Group for the History of Astronomy * * in the Astronomische Gesellschaft * * * * Number 39, December 21, 1999 * * * * Edited by: Wolfgang R. Dick * * * *************************************************************************** Contents -------- 1. USNO installs newest Washington time ball 2. Klaus Staubermann: Proposal for Observations with a Zoellner Photometer 3. Guenther Oestmann: Exhibition: Clocks and Scientific Instruments of the Hager Family 4. Symposium Announcement: Astronomy of Ancient Civilizations 5. Conferences 1999/2000 6. Peter D. Hingley: Dunkin Autobiography Published 7. New Books Acknowledgements Imprint *************************************************************************** * * * A Happy New Year 2000 to all readers! * * * *************************************************************************** ........................................................................... Item 1 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... USNO installs newest Washington time ball ----------------------------------------- (From: "Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte" Nr. 45, 3. Oktober 1999, Item 3.) Residents of the Glover Park neighborhood of northwest Washington, DC may notice a subtle change in their skyline beginning today. This morning the U.S. Naval Observatory hoisted a time ball into place on the roof of its main building. This time ball will be the official marker of the beginning of the year 2000 and the beginning of the Third Millennium in 2001. By order of then-Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason, the Naval Observatory dropped the first time ball in the United States in 1845. This was the primary means for disseminating time to the city of Washington and for ships on the Potomac to set their chronometers for navigation. The ball was dropped every day at noon from the Observatory's Foggy Bottom site until 1885, when it was moved to the State, War and Navy Building (now the old Executive Office Building) next to the White House. It was last dropped there in 1936. The dropping of the time ball to usher in the year 2000, by order of the current Secretary of the Navy the Honorable Mr. Richard Danzig, will therefore commemorate an old tradition for Washington and the U.S. Navy. It will, however, be dropped at midnight EST on New Year's Eve rather than noon. The event will be the local culmination of a "round-the-world time ball drop", in which time balls will mark the beginning of the New Year as it sweeps westward from the International Date Line across New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, USNO is coordinating the local observance of the New Year with U.S. Navy installations and ships around the globe. The Observatory is also a partner in the White House Millennium Program. Time balls were used in many cities around the country and around the world during the 19th century. Those in the U.S. were sometimes dropped by a signal from Washington. Beginning in September, 1877 a time ball atop the Western Union Building in New York City was dropped by telegraphic signal from the Naval Observatory. In the era before time zones, the signal for New York was issued 12 minutes before that for Washington to take into account the longitude difference. At the turn of the 20th century dozens of time balls were being dropped around the world. A few are still ceremonially dropped, ranging from New Zealand to the Old Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The Naval Observatory began as the Depot of Charts and Instruments for the Navy in 1830, maintaining and calibrating sextants and chronometers. From 1844 to 1893 it was located in Foggy Bottom, at the site of the current Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). Since 1893, the Naval Observatory has been located at 34th and Massachusetts Avenue, about 2 miles from the Foggy Bottom site and the center of Washington, D.C. Determination and dissemination of time have been an essential part of the Naval Observatory mission since its beginning. During that time clock technology has evolved from precision pendulum clocks to quartz crystal clocks to the present hydrogen maser and cesium-beam atomic clocks. Similarly, time dissemination has evolved from the visual signal represented by the time ball, to the telegraph beginning in the 1860s, to radio signals and finally the Global Positioning System (GPS), for which USNO supplies the time. Clock accuracy has advanced from one-thousandth of a second with the most elaborate pendulum clocks at the beginning of the century, to one billionth of a second per day with the present atomic clocks. Time dissemination, accurate to a few tenths of a second with the time ball, is now accurate to within a few billionths of a second with GPS. Aside from maintaining the Master Clock of the United States, the Observatory produces star catalogs, astronomical and navigational almanacs, and conducts forefront astronomical research. It is building a "cesium fountain" atomic clock to improve time accuracy ten-fold. It has constructed the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer, which will help improve the celestial reference system and may discover Earth-size planets. The Observatory accurately measures the rotation of the Earth using radio telescopes around the world. And it continues a variety of efforts to improve navigation by land, sea, air and space. For more details on the millennium and USNO millennium activities, visit the USNO Millennium Web site, http://www.usno.navy.mil/millennium/. Time ball-related illustrations are available at this site. The USNO's main Web site also has much information on the Master Clock and other USNO projects. An electronic version of this Release, with digital images of the new time ball, may be found at http://www.usno.navy.mil/ballrel.html Source: USNO press release, August 19, 1999 Press Contacts: Dr. Steven Dick, (202) 762-0379, dick.steve@usno.navy.mil Geoff Chester, (202) 762-1438, grc@usno.navy.mil See also: Steven J. Dick: Commission 41 2000 and 2001 Time Ball Initiative. ENHA No. 35, March 25, 1999, Item 1. ........................................................................... Item 2 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... Proposal for Observations with a Zoellner Photometer ---------------------------------------------------- By Klaus Staubermann, Cambridge, MA During the past four years I have rebuilt a Zoellner astrophotometer and practised with the replica. The original photometer, based on comparison of starlight by means of polarisation, was designed by Karl Friedrich Zoellner in 1858, and became the most popular single astrophysical instrument in 19th century Germany. The reworking of Zoellner's photometer and his observations was done to understand both the success of the instrument and the scientific practice employed by Zoellner. This project has been completed last year, and the rebuilt instrument is now on display at the Dibner Institute (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. On this year's History of Astrophysics meeting in Tihany, Hungary, a plan was discussed to use the rebuilt photometer for further observations. The idea is to carry out systematic photometric measurements with the intention to analyse, reduce, and complete Zoellner's photometric catalogue from 1861. Such a project would help us to homogenize the existing photometric data, and make it available for contemporary astronomical research, such as long-term variable stars. A project of such nature could be carried out either by a dedicated amateur or become a Masters or PhD Thesis in astronomy. I shall be most happy to make the rebuilt photometer available for the time of such a project - probably in the range of one to two years. I am also prepared to answer any questions concerning the instrument, and Chris Sterken at the Institute of Astronomy of Brussels University (csterken@vub.ac.be) would be most willing to answer any questions regarding the photometric catalogue. Further information can also be found in C. Sterken, K. Staubermann (eds.): Karl Friedrich Zoellner and the Origins of Astrophotometry, Brussels 1999, in print. Author's address: Klaus Staubermann Dibner Institute MIT E56-100 38 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Tel.: +1-617-258-0507 Fax.: +1-617-258-7483 e-mail: kstaubermann@dibinst.mit.edu URL: http://www2.crosswinds.net/~kstauber/ ........................................................................... Item 3 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... Exhibition: Clocks and Scientific Instruments of the Hager Family ----------------------------------------------------------------- By Guenther Oestmann, Hamburg On December 10th an exhibition of the works of the Hager dynasty was opened in the Ducal Library in Wolfenbuettel. Duke August was an ardent collector of clocks and scientific instruments and his successor Rudolf August, although not contributing to the cultural blossoming of the small baroque residence, in 1668 appointed Wolfgang and Michael Tobias Hager as clockmakers for the maintenance of the clocks, watches and scientific instruments preserved in the Kunstkammer. Members of the family were active in Wolfenbuettel, Brunswick, Arnstadt and Frankfurt until the end of the 18th century. The exhibition shows a major part of the Hager oeuvre from private and public property and a catalogue will be available at the beginning of December. Catalogue: Guenther Oestmann: Uhren und wissenschaftliche Instrumente der Familie Hager. 253 p., 175 b/w and colour ill., ISBN 3-927288-29-2, DM 29.00. The catalogue can be ordered from the Staedtisches Museum, Am Loewenwall, D-38100 Braunschweig, Germany. Contents: Clock- and instrumentmaking in Brunswick and Wolfenbuettel; Catalogue raisonne of 54 works of the different members of the Hager family; History of the Nocturnal and the Pedometer; Bibliography. Opening times of the exhibition from December 11th, 1999 to February 27th, 2000, Tuesday to Sunday 10.00-17.00. Herzog August Bibliothek P.O. Box 1364 D-38299 Wolfenbuettel Author's address: Dr. Guenther Oestmann Institut fuer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Mathematik und Technik Bundesstr. 55 D-20146 Hamburg Germany e-mail: oestmann@math.uni-hamburg.de ........................................................................... Item 4 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... Symposium Announcement: Astronomy of Ancient Civilizations ---------------------------------------------------------- JENAM-2000, the 9th Meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS) will be held from 29 May to 3 June 2000 in Moscow, Russia, jointly with the 5th Conference of the Euro-Asian Astronomical Society (EAAS). The conference will cover the basic fields of astronomy and astrophysics and is open to all astronomers who would like to interact and exchange their scientific expertise with their European colleagues. Invited reviews of outstanding problems of modern astronomy are expected to be given at plenary sessions. Parallel sessions covering wide fields of astronomy will also be organizes during the Conference. In addition, poster sessions are expected to play an important role in this Conference, addressing recent results, which, in general, cannot be included in the detailed plan of the scheduled sessions. Joint discussions, two colloquia and several associated symposia are also planned. Associated Symposium: Astronomy of ancient civilizations The symposium "Astronomy of ancient civilizations" associated to JENAM-2000 will be held on May 24-29, 2000 in Moscow. The basic topics of the symposium will comprise a range of problems of archaeoastronomy, ethnoastronomy as well as other diversified fields of research relevant to the concept of astronomy in the context of the history of the culture of ancient civilizations. In addition investigations dealing with the problems of existence, survival and the world outlook of ancient societies will be treated. As a final panel discussion "Problems of ancient astronomy" will be anticipated. The main themes and sessions to be considered are: 1. Astronomical research of the oldest civilizations 2. Sun and ancient civilizations 3. Oldest observations of luminaries during the Stone Age 4. Astronomy of ancient societies of the Eurasian Steppe-Forest area 5. Astronomy of Ancient China 6. Astronomy of Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt 7. Astronomy of Ancient Greece 8. Astronomy of Mesoamerica 9. History of astronomy contact address: E.N.Kaurov, e-mail kaurov@sai.msu.ru More information: http://www.sai.msu.su/jenam/ P R E-R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M Submit this form by normal post or fax to: JENAM-2000, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Universitetskij pr. 13, 119899 Moscow, Russia; tel/fax: +7(095)9328844 Deadline for pre-registration: December 20, 1999 Direct questions to: jenam@sai.msu.su == You will receive a confirmation from the LOC as soon as your registration has been processed == Family Name: First name: Initials: Title: Professor Dr. Ph.D. Student Mr. Mrs. Miss Affiliation for Name Badge: E-mail: Phone number: Fax number: Institution: Postal address: City: Zip Code: Country: Accompanying person(s): I am interested in session on: Will you be presenting a paper? (YES/NO) If YES, preliminary title: oral poster Preliminary interest in the type of hotel accommodation University Guest House (<20 USD) Hotel nearby (20-50 USD) Top-class hotel Preliminary interest to long distance excursions (YES/NO) . . . . . If es, which excursion do you select: Date . . . . . . . . . . Signature: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Announcement provided by Izold Pustylnik, e-mail: izold@aai.ee; edited for ENHA.] ........................................................................... Item 5 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... Conferences 1999/2000 --------------------- (From: "Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte" Nr. 45, 3. Oktober 1999, Item 5.) Further conferences in the years 1999 and 2000 were reported in previous issues of ENHA. For a complete list of all conferences announced see the following URL: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/hist_astr/ha_meet.html October 1-4, 1999, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Annual Convention of the Antique Telescope Society Place: Dunsmuir Lodge and the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Activities: Tours of the 1.8 meter Brashear / Warner & Swasey telescope, keynote address by Albert Van Helden, two invited lectures by Alan Batten, papers sessions, and displays of instruments. Contacts: Peter Abrahams, e-mail: telscope@europa.com November 3-7, 1999, Pittsburg, PA, USA 75th anniversary meeting of the History of Science Society Contacts: Fred Gregory, e-mail: fgregory@ufl.edu, or Edith Sylla, e-mail: Edith_Sylla@ncsu.edu March 31 - April 2, 2000, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England British Sundial Society Conference Place: Royal Agricultural College Contacts: David Young (Secretary BSS), 112, Whitehull Road, London E4 6DW, England, e-mail: davidsun@lineone.net ........................................................................... Item 6 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... Dunkin Autobiography Published ------------------------------ By Peter D. Hingley, London (From: "Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte" Nr. 43, 6. August 1999, Item 6.) To mark the Eclipse on 1999 August 11 the Royal Institution of Cornwall is publishing the manuscript autobiography of Edwin Dunkin (1821 - 1898), who was born in Truro in 1821. The title adopted is 'A Far Off Vision; a Cornishman at Greenwich Observatory'. This document found its way to the RAS in 1970 and is now listed as RAS Additional Manuscript 55. The actual launch will be performed by Patrick Moore at Truro on Saturday 7 August. The text has been edited, and the introduction written by myself and Miss Tamsin Daniel, Curator of Art and Exhibitions, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. Dr Allan Chapman has kindly written a preface. Dunkin worked at the Greenwich Observatory for over forty years, most of them under Airy, and became Chief Assistant under Christie. He is also famous for his beautiful book 'The Midnight Sky' whose genesis he describes - it derived from what appears to have been the first ever series of articles published in any general circulation magazine with monthly illustrations of the sky. Dunkin's autobiography gives much information and insight into the workings of the Greenwich Observatory in his time, and describes the commissioning of major Greenwich instruments such as the Airy Transit Circle, the Great Altazimuth, the 11 3/4 inch refractor (later 28 inch) and the Reflex Zenith Tube; he was also involved in, and describes, numerous other operations such as the determinations of the longitudes of Paris, Brussels and Valentia, Geomagnetic observations, and Airy's experiments to determine the density of the Earth at Harton Colliery, of which Dunkin was superintendent. Dunkin also gives detailed descriptions of many Cornish antiquities and customs, of visits to Cornish copper mines, and the changes in modes of transport during the nineteenth century. Several appendices have been added, including the unpublished description of Airy's earlier Gravity experiments in Dolcoath copper mine, Cornwall, and his lengthy lecture on the Harton Colliery experiments. The publication is being sold by the Royal Cornwall Museum and, characteristically of the publications of local societies, is being printed in quite a small edition. Could I therefore suggest that you should apply as soon as possible if you want to obtain a copy; it is highly unlikely that the volume will be reprinted. The volume has 218 pages, spiral bound, and the price is GB Pounds 20. Orders may be sent by post to: The Director Royal Cornwall Museum River Street Truro Cornwall TR1 2SJ or, perhaps, preferably, FAXed to the RCM at 01872 240514. They can send you a pro-forma invoice or you can use a credit card. If ordering direct please give the following information: Name Address Number of copies required Your address Delivery address (if different) Telephone Number Type of Card (VISA, etc) Card Number Expiry date Signature. Please mention this message if ordering direct. Alternatively you can order through a bookseller, the ISBN being 1 898166 73 0. I hope you will find the book interesting and worthwhile. Author's address: Peter D. Hingley, Librarian Royal Astronomical Society Burlington House Piccadilly London W1V 0NL England Tel.: 0171 734 4582 / 3307 Fax: 0171 494 0166 e-mail: pdh@ras.org.uk ........................................................................... Item 7 ENHA No. 39, Dec. 21, 1999 ........................................................................... New Books --------- (From: "Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte" Nr. 43, 6. August 1999, Item 7. Partial translations by the editor.) Birkmaier, Martin (Hrsg.): Totale Sonnenfinsternis 11. August 1999 [Total eclipse, 11 August 1999. - In German]. Augsburg: Intercon, 1999. 94 p., 15 x 21 cm, numerous ill., ISBN 3-9805116-1-8, DM 9.80 (pb) [p. 9-22: Karl-August Keil, Zur Geschichte der Sonnenfinsternisse (on the history of eclipses, with emphasis on Augsburg). Distribution: Intercon GmbH, Gablinger Weg 9k, D-86154 Augsburg, Germany, Tel.: 0821-414081, Fax: 0821-414085; URL: http://www.intercon-spacetec.de/] Einsteinturm [Einstein Tower. - In German]. Texts: Christine Hoh-Slodczyk, Juergen Staude. Berlin: Pitz & Hoh; Ludwigsburg: Wuestenrot Stiftung, 1999. 32 p., 12 x 23 cm, numerous ill., part. in colour, DM 7.50 (pb) + shipping, DM 3.50 for students [Appeared on the occasion of the restauration of 1997-1999, which is described in detail after the history and dscription of the solar observatory. Distribution: Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Sonnenobservatorium Einsteinturm, Sekretariat, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Tel.: (0331) 288 2331, Fax: 288 2310, e-mail: soe@aip.de] Krauss, Rolf: Astronomische Konzepte und Jenseitsvorstellungen in den Pyramidentexten [Astronomical concepts and ideas about the hereafter in the texts of the pyramids. - In German]. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1997. XVI, 297 p., 34 ill., ISBN 3-447-03979-5, DM 128.00 (pb) (Aegyptologische Abhandlungen ; 59) [Also: Hamburg, Universitaet, Habilitations-Schrift, 1992] Stern, Alan; Mitton, Jaqueline: Pluto and Charon. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. 216 p., 23.5 x 16 cm, ISBN 0-471-15297-8, $ 27.95, GBP 22.50 (hb) [From the discovery of Pluto in 1930 to the current understanding of the ninth planet and its moon, Charon. "Throughout the book, the authors bring to life for the reader the personalities who, in some cases, have devoted their careers to understanding this seductive and wonderfully complex planetary system. In addition to Lowell, Slipher, and Tombaugh ... we learn here of Hardie, Cruikshank, Christy, Andersson, Tholen, Buie, Elliot, McKinnon, Jewitt, Luu, and others less well known outside the realm of contemporary planetary astronomy." (Robert Millis)] Rezension: R.Millis: Sky & Telescope 95 (1998) 6, 73-74 Rezension: P.Moore: The Observatory 118 (1998) 1144, 175 Wattenberg, Diedrich; Brosche, Peter: Archivalische Quellen zum Leben und Werk von Franz Xaver von Zach [Archival sources on the live and works of Franz Xaver von Zach. - In German]. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993. 89 p., facsim., ISBN 3-525-82122-0, DM 40.00 (pb) (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Goettingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. Dritte Folge ; Nr. 45) ........................................................................... Acknowledgements ---------------- For information we thank all authors and in addition: Inge and Karl-August Keil, Izold Pustylnik, and Juergen Staude. ........................................................................... Imprint ------- Electronic Newsletter for the History of Astronomy (ENHA) Published by the Working Group for the History of Astronomy in the Astronomische Gesellschaft Editor: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick All items without an author's name are editorial contributions. Articles as well as information for the several sections are appreciated. Subscription for ENHA is free. Readers and subscribers are asked for occasional voluntary donations to the working group. Copyright Statement: The Electronic Newsletters for the History of Astronomy may be freely re-distributed in the case that no charge is imposed. Public offer in WWW servers, BBS etc. is allowed after the editor has been informed. Non-commercial reproduction of single items in electronic or printed media is possible only with the editor's permission. Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte / Working Group for the History of Astronomy: URL: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/astoria.html Chairman: Prof. Dr. Peter Brosche, Observatorium Hoher List der Sternwarte der Universitaet Bonn, D-54550 Daun, Germany, Tel.: +49(0)6592 2150, Fax: +49(0)6592 985140 Secretary: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick, Bundesamt fuer Kartographie und Geodaesie, Aussenstelle Potsdam, Postfach 60 08 08, D-14408 Potsdam, Germany, Tel.: +49(0)331 316 618, E-mail: wdi@potsdam.ifag.de Bank Acct. of the Working Group of the Astronomische Gesellschaft: Acct # 333 410 41, Sparkasse Bochum (BLZ 430 500 01) Contributions from foreign countries: acct # 162 18-203, Postgiroamt Hamburg, BLZ 200 400 20 Please sign with: "Fuer Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte" ***************************************************************************