News from Mars - Mass Media and the Forging of a New Astronomy, 1860-1910 (Hardcover)

Mass media in the late nineteenth century was full of news from Mars. In the wake of Giovanni Schiaparelli's 1877 discovery of enigmatic dark, straight lines on the red planet, astronomers and the public at large vigorously debated the possibility that it might be inhabited. As rivalling scientific practitioners looked to marshal allies and sway public opinion-through newspapers, periodicals, popular books, exhibitions, and encyclopaedias-they exposed disagreements over how the discipline of astronomy should be organized and how it should establish acceptable conventions of discourse. News from Mars provides a new account of this extraordinary episode in the history of astronomy, revealing how major transformations in astronomical practice across Britain and America were inextricably tied up with popular scientific culture and a transatlantic news economy that enabled knowledge to travel. As Joshua Nall argues, astronomers were journalists, too, eliding practice with communication in consequential ways. As writers and editors, they played a pivotal role in the emergence of a "new astronomy" dedicated to the study of the physical constitution and life history of celestial objects, blurring harsh distinctions between those who produced esoteric knowledge and those who disseminated it.

General

Imprint:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century
Release date:	September 2019
Authors:	Joshua Nall
Dimensions:	163 x 236 x 28mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	312
ISBN-13:	978-0-8229-4552-9
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > History of science Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Popular science Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Solar system > General
LSN:	0-8229-4552-5
Barcode:	9780822945529

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