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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories
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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories Paperback - 2001

by J. L. Heilbron

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In this "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book of the Year, Heilbron reveals that the Roman Catholic Church served as a patron of sophisticated astronomical research between 1650 and 1750 by building churches that were the best solar observatories in the world. 8 color illustrations. 43 halftones. Line illustrations & tables.

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From the publisher

Between 1650 and 1750, four Catholic churches were the best solar observatories in the world. Built to fix an unquestionable date for Easter, they also housed instruments that threw light on the disputed geometry of the solar system, and so, within sight of the altar, subverted Church doctrine about the order of the universe.

A tale of politically canny astronomers and cardinals with a taste for mathematics, The Sun in the Church tells how these observatories came to be, how they worked, and what they accomplished. It describes Galileo's political overreaching, his subsequent trial for heresy, and his slow and steady rehabilitation in the eyes of the Catholic Church. And it offers an enlightening perspective on astronomy, Church history, and religious architecture, as well as an analysis of measurements testing the limits of attainable accuracy, undertaken with rudimentary means and extraordinary zeal. Above all, the book illuminates the niches protected and financed by the Catholic Church in which science and mathematics thrived.

Superbly written, The Sun in the Church provides a magnificent corrective to long-standing oversimplified accounts of the hostility between science and religion.

Details

  • Title The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories
  • Author J. L. Heilbron
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Fourth Printing
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
  • Publication date April 2, 2001
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Illustrated
  • ISBN 9780674005365 / 0674005368
  • Weight 1.64 lbs (0.74 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.72 x 6.75 x 0.96 in (24.69 x 17.15 x 2.44 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Western Europe
  • Category History - General History
  • Library of Congress subjects Science, Renaissance, Religion and science - Italy - History -
  • Dewey Decimal Code 520.94

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Citations

  • New York Times, 04/15/2001, Page 28
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The Sun in the Church : Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

The Sun in the Church : Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

by J. L. Heilbron

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Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Very Good-. 2001. Paperback. 0674005368 . Text is clean. Cover shows wear, corners bumped. Previous owner gift inscription on half title page. ; 171.45 X 27.94 X 247.65 millimeters; 384 pages .
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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories
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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories
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The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

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The Sun in the Church – Cathedrals as Solar Observatories
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The Sun in the Church – Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

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