9780307744609-0307744604-Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens

Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens

ISBN-13: 9780307744609
ISBN-10: 0307744604
Edition: Illustrated
Author: Andrea Wulf
Publication date: 2013
Publisher: Vintage
Format: Paperback 336 pages
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Book details

ISBN-13: 9780307744609
ISBN-10: 0307744604
Edition: Illustrated
Author: Andrea Wulf
Publication date: 2013
Publisher: Vintage
Format: Paperback 336 pages

Summary

Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens (ISBN-13: 9780307744609 and ISBN-10: 0307744604), written by authors Andrea Wulf, was published by Vintage in 2013. With an overall rating of 3.7 stars, it's a notable title among other Expeditions & Discoveries (World History, Astronomy, Astronomy & Space Science, History & Philosophy) books. You can easily purchase or rent Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens (Paperback) from BooksRun, along with many other new and used Expeditions & Discoveries books and textbooks. And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.52.

Description

On June 6, 1761, the world paused to observe a momentous occasion: the first transit of Venus between the Earth and the Sun in more than a century. Through that observation, astronomers could calculate the size of the solar system—but only if they could compile data from many different points of the globe, all recorded during the short period of the transit. Overcoming incredible odds and political strife, astronomers from Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden, and the American colonies set up observatories in the remotest corners of the world, only to be thwarted by unpredictable weather and warring armies. Fortunately, transits of Venus occur in pairs; eight years later, they would have another opportunity to succeed.

Chasing Venus brings to life the personalities of the astronomers who embarked upon this complex and essential venture and paints a vivid portrait of the collaborations, the rivalries, and the volatile international politics that hindered them at every turn. Thanks to these scientists, neither our conception of the universe nor the nature of scientific research would ever be the same.

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