Setting Sail for the Universe
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Setting Sail for the Universe by Donald Fernie
This collection brings together twenty-eight of noted astronomer Donald Fernie's best Marginalia columns from American Scientist magazine. Published between 1985 and the present (and updated as necessary), the articles focus on the history of astronomy, bringing to life many of the finest minds who have sought to explain what we observe in the night sky. Written in an engaging style, these tales of discovery will be of interest to the general reader as well as those with a science background. Fernie recounts the remarkable human adventures, struggles, and follies behind some well-known and lesser-known scientific conquests of past centuries, such as the contentious discovery of Neptune and the misguided search for Vulcan, a proposed planet between the Sun and Mercury. Several of the articles focus on the characters themselves, such as Edmond Halley of Halley's comet fame, or the obscure Jeremiah Horrocks, who made the first realistic determination of the distance between the sun and the earth, and preceded Newton in suggesting the existence of an attractive force now known as gravity.| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780813530888 |
| ISBN 10 | 0813530881 |
| Title | Setting Sail for the Universe |
| Author | Donald Fernie |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
| Year published | 2002-05-31 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |