From Earth-Bound to Satellite

The 10 papers in this collection are from sessions on the history of the telescope at the International Congress on History of Science, held in Budapest in July 2009, so marking the fourth centennial of Galileo's observations that would result in his book Sidereus Nuncius. The topics include Galileo's shopping list as an overlooked document about early telescope making, telescope making in the Dutch Republic during the 17th and early 18th centuries, optical designs for navigation at sea, clockwork for telescopes in the 19th century, and space astronomy as a gift of the Cold War. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Alison D. Morrison-Low, D.Phil. (2000) in Economic History with Physics, University of York, Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland since 1980. Her recent publications explore the English instrument trade, for which she won the 2008 Paul Bunge Prize. Sven Dupre, Ph.D. (2002) in Philosophy, Ghent University,is Research Group Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Professor of History of Knowledge at the Free University of Berlin. His recent publications focus on the history of optics and the telescope.Stephen Johnston, Ph.D. (1994) in History of Science, University of Cambridge, is Assistant Keeper at the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford. His publications focus on instruments and practical mathematics from the 16th to the 19th centuries.Giorgio Strano, Ph.D. (2003) in History of Science, University of Florence, is Curator of the Collections at Museo Galileo in Florence. He has published extensively on the history of astronomy, including "Galileo's Telescope" (2008).