Doctoral Dissertation Research: John Herschel's Southern Hemisphere Astronomy

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation improvement research project will analyze the scientific, cultural and political context of the nineteenth-century astronomical expedition made by John Herschel to Cape Town, South Africa. In particular this research project will focus on the reduction, publication, distribution and reception of those southern hemisphere observations, known as the Cape Results. What is the relevance of Herschel's voyage to history and to the science of astronomy? An analysis of the publication, distribution, and reception of the results of Herschel's southern hemisphere astronomical observations will further inform our understanding of what science meant to different individuals and groups in the nineteenth century. This project will situate Herschel's voyage and astronomical observations within the expansionist ambitions of the early nineteenth-century British Empire. Additionally, this research will consider the relevance of Herschel's observations to current observational astronomy. Many of his southern hemisphere observations would later go into his 1864 General Catalogue, the predecessor to the New General Catalog of nebulae and star clusters, which is still used today. Funding will support travel to archives around Cambridge and London for three months.