Solar System Astronomy in America

Communities, Patronage, and Interdisciplinary Science, 1920–1960

Ronald E Doel author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:16th Jul '09

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Solar System Astronomy in America cover

This book, first published in 1996, examines how American scientists collaborated to better understand the solar system.

A history of how scientists in various fields collaborated from 1920 to 1960 to better understand the solar system, this book, first published in 1996, examines such areas as the origin of comets, the nature of planets, and the significance of impact collisions on Earth's history.Between 1920 and 1960 astronomers began working with scientists in other fields in order to better understand the nature of the solar system. Researchers made wide-ranging attempts to solve such problems as the nature of lunar and terrestrial craters, the origin of comets and meteors and the birth of the solar system. While often tinged with controversy, this work provided the foundation for planetary science in the space age. Exploiting archival material, this book, first published in 1996, investigates this emerging interdisciplinary scientific community and its influence on astronomy, meteorology, geology and geophysics. It examines how studies in planetary science were influenced by shifts in institutional mandates, new research techniques, and Cold War government-military funding. Above all, the book explores an important branch of what is now called the environmental sciences.

'Ronald Doel's superb book challenges the thesis that American scientists neglected the solar system in the four decades preceding NASA's founding.' Karl Hufbauer, Science
'Interdisciplinary cooperation … has a profound effect on science and the scientist … the author draws on unpublished archive material to understand the controversies … The reader will probably enjoy the conflict of opinion … the book is well illustrated with photographs and we notice that most of the astronomers (and also the rest) are smiling!' Irish Astronomical Journal
'Doel has written an excellent account of this mostly-forgotten development, and he has helped us to understand the crucial background of the achievement of the Space Age.' Journal for the History of Astronomy

ISBN: 9780521115681

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm

Weight: 460g

316 pages