The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images Through History
The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images Through History
Marvin Bolt, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago
Anna Felicity Friedman, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago
Out of Print
The Universe Unveiled documents the human desire through history to explore and understand our world. Taking a unique approach, it focuses on the instruments, books, and maps people have created to decipher the Universe from the late fifteenth through to the nineteenth century. Throughout, the book is richly illustrated with over 270 full-color images, including those of rare and unusual artifacts from all over the world kept in the world-renowned collection at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago. With clear and informative text, it covers our discovery of Space and Time, and our ever-expanding understanding of Earth and the Heavens, describing in particular the shift from an Earth-centered to a Sun-centered view of the Universe, and the mapping of the stars using telescopes. It also examines the technologies of navigation and of measuring and mapping the Earth, as well as the discovery of ways to keep time.
- A unique approach, focusing on the instruments, books, and maps astronomers have used through the ages
- Richly illustrated with more than 270 full-colour illustrations
- A clear, informative and very readable text
Reviews & endorsements
"A new book published this month by Cambridge University Press is showing off one of the greatest collections in the world of antique instruments of astronomy...Cambridge University Press saw the collection as an array of spectacular objects worthy of being showcased for a wider audience in a slick, full-color book, The Universe Unveiled." Chicago Tribune
"This book offers a feast for the eye and for the mind, encompassing hundreds of the finest drawings, engravings, rare books, and scientific instruments from the collection of the Adler Planetarium, on the Chicago shore of Lake Michigan...the book is sumptuously reproduced, with irregularly shaped objects cut out and masked to make the book a design delight." The Key Reporter, publication of Phi Beta Kappa
"This is a lovely, high-quality picture book showing the instruments that astronomers have used, many of them since long before the invention of the telescope." Naples, Florida News
"The material of the book is beautifully presented with an impressive supply of diagrams, engravings, and photographs on every page. THe reproductions are first rate and the layout is attractively done. It is a visual feast for anyone interested in the history of science and the instruments by which it progressed." \ s Rittenhouse
"...beautiful book...would make a very attractive gift..." The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
"The book is lavishly illustrated, with more than 250 colour pictures of the most accurate and beautiful instruments since the late 15th century, accompanied by a taut but readable prose aimed at the layman." The Globe and Mail
"Over a dozen [pages] are full-page photgraphs of excellent quality...[T]he book is full of pictures and descriptions of such things as armillary spheres and astrolabes--instruments I have heard of but not seen until this book." IEEE Spectrum
"This richly illustrated book describes many of the more beautiful and unusual examples, as well as how they were used to explore the Earth and sky. Readers are presented with detailed views of the exquisite craftmanship of centuries ago." Sky and Telescope.
"stunniing...valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of scientific investigation about the universe...The University is also a testament to science as a creative activity. The exquisite illustrations and the beautiful instruments portray science as far more than a dry reaction of facts- rather as an integral part of human society with roots deep in the past...Should anyone doubt this attitude, have him or her spend a few hours with this lovely book. It is a valuable resource for teachers and students alike." Science Activities
"This is a lovely book filled with crisp images of beautiful instruments, diagrams, and maps." Meteorites & Planetary Science
Product details
November 2000Hardback
9780521791434
152 pages
240 × 238 × 20 mm
0.889kg
270 colour illus.
Unavailable - out of print May 2010
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Discovering space
- 3. Discovering time
- 4. Understanding the Earth
- 5. Understanding the heavens
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- List of images
- Index.
