03391oam 2200481I 450 991049457740332120190826145055.090-04-38733-110.1163/9789004387331(CKB)4970000000170188(MiAaPQ)EBC5842503(nllekb)BRILL9789004387331(EXLCZ)99497000000017018820170829d2017 uy 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierDecoding the Stars: A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist Ileana ChinniciLeiden, Boston :BRILL,2019.1 online resource (387 pages)Jesuit Studies ;v. 1690-04-38729-3 Includes bibliographical references and index.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.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.Jesuit Studies16.AstronomersItalyBiographyAstronomyHistory19th centuryAstrophysicsHistory19th centuryElectronic books.AstronomersBiography.AstronomyAstrophysics520.92Chinnici Ileana1033459NL-LeKBNL-LeKBBOOK9910494577403321Decoding the Stars: A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist2452029UNINA