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The first three papers
(by A. Hänel, W. Schlosser and R. Hansen) deal with very ancient
information: megalithic tombs as solar observatories, the Nebra sky-disk
(showing Sun, Moon, Pleiades and other stars), and solar cults. These papers
(adding up to about 90 pages) are not only descriptive, but also contain an
analysis based on quantitative facts.
One paper deals with letters
exchanged by astronomers serving as data sources for the counting of sunspots
during the Maunder minimum. More specifically, several hundreds of letters by
Gottfried Kirch (1639-1710) are being edited and analysed by Klaus-Dieter
Herbst.
Medieval
solar-eclipse maps with totality paths are reproduced in an interesting paper
by Robert van Gent, who presents eclipse cartography of as early as 1699 - at
least 15 years prior to the generally accepted first such map by Edmond
Halley.
R. Schielicke's paper on the 1851 Königsberg daguerrotype
photograph of the solar corona gives interesting details on the history of
daguerrotype photography, and has a number of very useful basic references,
including OCR-based transcripts of a 1851-dated document describing an early
corona daguerrotype (in German).
Three consecutive papers (one by H.W.
Duerbeck, followed by papers by G. Wolfschmidt and M.P. Seiler) not only reveal
scientific history, but also crucial information on how governmental
sponsorship, from the 1860s till the end of WWII, modulated the development of
solar research. This paper reveals lots of cross-references on scientists and
government agents, and also offers insight on the interplay between political
actors and scientific researchers. The last paper covers very dense time lines,
and also vividly illustrates the military value of basic fundamental research -
that is, the forecast of radio propagation disturbances caused by solar flares.
This element is also dealt with in the subsequent paper by Hubertus Wöhl,
on the spectroheliogram archives of the Fraunhofer (now Kiepenheuer) Institute.
Accounts of pioneering episodes are given in Axel Wittmann's paper on
site testing at La Palma in the early seventies, as well as in the subsequent
paper on solar research with stratospheric balloons (by Manuel Vázquez
and Axel Wittmann). These authors sketch a very concise but detailed history of
civil ballooning, and illustrate this with several images from private
archives.
Alltogether, this book is well-edited, and offers lots of
historical facts for the money. |
