A Treatise on Astronomy

An 1833 introduction to astronomy for the interested lay person, by the foremost astronomer of his day.

John Frederick William Herschel (Author)

9781108005548, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

444 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.8 kg

Astronomer and philosopher Sir John Herschel (1792–1871), the son of William and the nephew of Caroline, published his 1833 Treatise on Astronomy in the 'Cabinet Cyclopaedia' series of which the first volume had been his enormously successful Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the philosophy of science, and made contributions in many fields including mathematics, the newly discovered process of photography, and the botany of southern Africa, which he studied while making astronomical observations of the southern hemisphere, and where he was visited by Darwin and Fitzroy on the Beagle voyage. It was however as the natural successor to his father's astronomical studies that he is best remembered, and this book, which is written for the interested lay person, places strong emphasis on the importance of accurate observation and on avoiding preconceptions or hypotheses not based on such observation.

Introduction
1. General notions
2. Of the nature of astronomical instruments and observations in general
3. Of geography
4. Of uranography
5. Of the sun's motion
6. Of the moon
7. Of terrestrial gravity
8. Of the solar system
9. Of the satellites
10. Of comets
11. Of perturbations
12. Of sidereal astronomy
13. Of the calendar
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ]