William Huggins (1824–1910) was celebrated in his lifetime as the father of astrophysics. The letters and observatory notebooks contained in this edition allow Huggins’ important role in the development of astrophysics to fully emerge. Material comes from archives around the world and is previously unpublished.

William Huggins (1824–1910) was celebrated in his lifetime as the father of astrophysics. The letters and observatory notebooks contained in this edition allow Huggins’ important role in the development of astrophysics to fully emerge. Material comes from archives around the world and is previously unpublished.

William Huggins (1824–1910) was celebrated in his lifetime as the father of astrophysics. The letters and observatory notebooks contained in this edition allow Huggins’ important role in the development of astrophysics to fully emerge. Material comes from archives around the world and is previously unpublished.

"This edition includes over 1,000 letters and excerpts from Huggins's observatory notebooks. The documents, the majority of which are previously unpublished, reveal the important role that Huggins played in the development of astrophysics. Editorial apparatus situates the letters in their scientific and historical context. The edition will be of interest to those researching astrophysics, astronomy, the history of instruments and the history of science more generally."--

Noakes' revelatory analysis of Victorian scientists' fascination with psychic phenomena connects science, the occult and religion in intriguing new ways.

William Huggins (1824–1910) was celebrated in his lifetime as the father of astrophysics. Huggins was also the author of numerous groundbreaking articles documenting his use of the spectroscope to analyse the light from celestial bodies. From the earliest days of his career Huggins was regularly in contact with other scientists, including astronomers, chemists, physicists, mathematicians and the makers of scientific instruments. Correspondents include Ernest Rutherford (pioneer of atomic physics), Thomas Romney Robinson (director of the Armagh Observatory), George Gabriel Stokes and Joseph Larmor (each served as Physical Secretary of the Royal Society), Thomas and Howard Grubb (father and son, makers of telescopes in Dublin), David Gill (director of the Royal Observatory at the Cape in South Africa) and George Ellery Hale (director of the Kenwood Astrophysical Observatory and founder of many others). This edition includes over 1,000 letters and excerpts from Huggins’s observatory notebooks. The documents, the majority of which are previously unpublished, reveal the important role that Huggins played in the development of astrophysics. Editorial apparatus situates the letters in their scientific and historical context. The edition will be of interest to those researching astrophysics, astronomy, the history of instruments and the history of science more generally.

We naturally think of Petrarca first as a poet. But he was much more than that. The first of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance, Petrarca was instrumental in establishing as a cultural goal the rediscovery and collection of manuscripts of the ancient Latin authors; thanks to Petrarca the humanist scholars who followed him became the main conduit for the transmission and revitalization of classical learning, a necessary condition of the wider European Renaissance. Even more significant was Petrarca's role in shaping the literary movement that became known as humanism, a movement that for centuries promoted the study and cultivation of Latin literature. A charismatic figure with a gift for friendship, his life - revealed above all in his letters - became a model for how to live a literary life, how to reconcile the study of pagan literature with sincere Christian belief, and how the study of ancient languages and literatures could serve both true religion and the public world of princes and republics, as well as promote moral excellence in mankind as a whole. He gave the humanities a set of ideals that they fed upon for centuries. He taught how the civic virtues and philosophical wisdom of the pagans could be combined with Christian teachings to produce a a richer civilization. He taught that the humanistic study of antiquity could transform lives and bring back virtue as a personal and public ideal. He more than anyone planted the great tree of Christian classicism which flourished in the West down to modern times.--