1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910809401803321

Autore

Chinnici Ileana

Titolo

Decoding the Stars: A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist / Ileana Chinnici

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden, ; Boston : , : BRILL, , 2019

ISBN

90-04-38733-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (387 pages)

Collana

Jesuit Studies ; ; v. 16

Disciplina

520.92

Soggetti

Astronomers - Italy - Biography

Astronomy - History - 19th century

Astrophysics - History - 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Foreword -- Foreword / Nichi D’Amico -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- A Century in Ferment -- Secchi’s Early Life and Education: From Childhood to the Priesthood -- The Experience of Exile: A Tragic Opportunity -- Establishing the New Collegio Romano Observatory: An Observatory for “Physical Astronomy” -- Advisor to the Papal States: Science in the Service of the Public -- A Rising International Career: Travels, Achievements, and Recognition -- Contributions to Astrophysics and other Sciences -- A Crucial Political Change: New Risks and Missed Opportunities -- A Society for a New Astronomy: Building a Network for Spectroscopic Research -- A Controversial Personality: Secchi and the Scientific Debates of His Time -- Secchi’s Final Years: Uncertainty and Illness -- Secchi’s Scientific Legacy -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

In Decoding the Stars , Ileana Chinnici offers an account of the life of the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878). In addition to providing an invaluable account of Secchi’s life and work—something that has been sorely lacking in the English-language scholarship—this biography will be especially stimulating for those interested in the evolution of astrophysics as a discipline from the nineteenth century onward. Despite his eclecticism, reminiscent of the natural



philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Secchi was in many ways a very modern scientist: open to innovation and cooperation, and a promoter of popularization and citizen science. Secchi also appears fully inserted in the cultural context of his time: he participated in philosophical and scientific debates, spread new theories and ideas, but also suffered the consequences of political events that marked those years and impacted on his life and activities.