Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 131-132, February 2024 ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 76-104, February 2024. German astronomer Max Wolf (1863–1932) pioneered photographic observation of asteroids and is credited as the discoverer of Trojan asteroids in 1906. His partnership with the Austro-Hungarian Empire astronomer Johann Palisa for visual confirmation led to the suggestion to call these bodies, with apparently common properties, “Trojans.” Wolf’s systematic approach led the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory to be a world power in asteroid discovery around the turn of the twentieth century and led to the recogniti ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 105-130, February 2024. The instrument collection at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences houses a historically significant 10-foot achromatic refractor crafted by London instrument maker John Dollond. The telescope came into use at the Academy’s Observatory in Stockholm in 1761 and remained in service into the 1820s. This paper aims to add to the biography of this instrument, encompassing its six decades of active service and, after 150 years in storage, its transformation into an exhibition showpiece. The paper begins by introdu ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 47-75, February 2024. The history of science in islands is not a well worked out discipline. This article offers the first thorough historical account of astronomical activities at Madeira, from the discovery of the uninhabited island in the fifteenth century (600 years ago), through its establishment as an astronomical observatory (300 years ago) and up to the recent past ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 31-46, February 2024. In the cloister of the Patio de Escuelas Menores of Salamanca, there is a mural known as El Cielo de Salamanca (The Sky of Salamanca) depicting some Ptolemaic constellations, the Sun and Mercury. It is part of a painting (c. 1483–86) that was hidden for a century and a half. Rediscovered in 1901, it was moved to its current location in 1953. Those who visited it shortly after its completion describe it as a magnificent astrological vault. However, in 1960, Zinner stated that the mural was a representation of t ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 137-139, February 2024 ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 133-135, February 2024 ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 3-30, February 2024. Owen Gingerich’s previously unpublished autobiographical sketch of his astronomical education, from his teenage years up through graduate school at Harvard, is presented with an introduction and notes by the editors ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 55, Issue 1, Page 135-137, February 2024 ..read more

Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 54, Issue 4, Page 487-490, November 2023 ..read more