Published: May 26, 2012
Words: 24,566 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781476030142

Short description

Venus in Sole Visa traces man's 4,000 year quest to determine the distance between the earth and the sun. Beginning with the first empires of Mesopotamia and ending with the first NASA probe landings on Mars, award winning journalist Ken Shulman charts man's dogged attempt to measure the heavens above him.

Extended description

In 1761, with the world at war on five continents, 171 men from over a dozen countries were dispatched about the globe to observe a rare celestial event: the passage of the planet Venus between the Earth and Sun.

The mission was conceived by British Royal Astronomer Edmond Halley nearly half a century earlier. Halley, who knew he would not live to see the transit, believed that if the event could be timed by observers placed at different points on the globe, it would solve a riddle that had tantalized man since he first began looking at the skies above him: the size of the universe.

Organized by the Royal Academies of France and Great Britain, the 1761 expedition enlisted astronomers, adventurers, aristocrats, and clerics to travel to venues as diverse as Cape Town, Pondicherry, and Arctic Norway. Many of them braved searing heat, arctic storms, hostile villagers, stinging insects, and battles on land and sea to reach their destinations. The ship carrying surveyors Charles Mason .. (Read more) In 1761, with the world at war on five continents, 171 men from over a dozen countries were dispatched about the globe to observe a rare celestial event: the passage of the planet Venus between the Earth and Sun.

The mission was conceived by British Royal Astronomer Edmond Halley nearly half a century earlier. Halley, who knew he would not live to see the transit, believed that if the event could be timed by observers placed at different points on the globe, it would solve a riddle that had tantalized man since he first began looking at the skies above him: the size of the universe.

Organized by the Royal Academies of France and Great Britain, the 1761 expedition enlisted astronomers, adventurers, aristocrats, and clerics to travel to venues as diverse as Cape Town, Pondicherry, and Arctic Norway. Many of them braved searing heat, arctic storms, hostile villagers, stinging insects, and battles on land and sea to reach their destinations. The ship carrying surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon was fired upon by a French vessel a few leagues out of port. One French astronomer had his observatory shelled by the British, and was held for ransom in a Lisbon prison.

"Venus in Sole Visa" sets the 1761 expedition in historical context, retracing the evolution of astronomy and thought from the Kingdom of Akkad to ancient Greece to 18th century Europe to the first NASA probe landings on Mars. Spanning from the Bronze Age to the Space Age, "Venus in Sole Visa" tells the tale of a 4,000 year obsession: our need to know about the universe in which we live.
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Tags

venus, astronomy, eclipse, solar system, measurement, kepler, transit of venus, horrocks, le gentil

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Reviews

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Review by: James Jaques on July 22, 2012 :
Technically accurate and a good addition to knowledge of the recent transit. I did not find the document littered with typos but indeed in need of a proof read. tance, something is missing in this sentence: "Kepler was in Wurtemberg Germany in 1571 to an innkeeper’s daughter and a soldier of fortune he never knew."
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Mario Wolczko on June 25, 2012 :
Nice addition to the transit literature. Short, but an excellent read. My only complaint is that is should have been more carefully proofread - it is littered with typos.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Mario Wolczko on June 25, 2012 :
Nice addition to the transit literature. Short, but an excellent read. My only complaint is that is should have been more carefully proofread - it is littered with typos.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Mario Wolczko on June 25, 2012 :
Nice addition to the transit literature. Short, but an excellent read. My only complaint is that is should have been more carefully proofread - it is littered with typos.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

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