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François Arago

A 19th Century French Humanist and Pioneer in Astrophysics

James Lequeux author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Springer International Publishing AG

Published:23rd Aug '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

François Arago cover

François Arago, the first to show in 1810 that the surface of the Sun and stars is made of incandescent gas and not solid or liquid, was a prominent physicist of the 19th century. He used his considerable influence to help Fresnel, Ampere and others develop their ideas and make themselves known. This book covers his personal contributions to physics, astronomy, geodesy and oceanography, which are far from negligible, but insufficiently known. Arago was also an important and influential political man who, for example, abolished slavery in the French colonies. One of the last humanists, he had a very broad culture and range of interests. In parallel to his biography, this title also covers the spectacular progresses of science at the time of Arago, especially in France: the birth of physical optics, electromagnetism and thermodynamics. Francois Arago’s life is a fascinating epic tale that reads as a novel.

“This book has great potential utility for the historian of astronomy and amply succeeds in its effort to reorient Arago’s legacy around his central role as astronomer while showing the breadth that the role could entail. … this book can be thought of as a corrective to a historical memory that has written astronomy out of Arago’s legacy.” (Theresa Levitt, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 48 (2), 2017)

“François Arago is a fine, scholarly work, fully footnoted, with a detailed bibliography. The layout and exposition are clear, making it easy to locate specific researches. It is very well written and easy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned much from it, and warmly recommend it to everyone interested in early-19th-Century astronomy and physics.” (Allan Chapman, The Observatory, Vol. 136 (1252), June, 2016)

ISBN: 9783319356464

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 5329g

334 pages

Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016