Arthur Berry

I have tried to give in this book an outline of the history of astronomy from the earliest historical times to the present day and to present it in a form that shall be intelligible to a reader who has no special knowledge of either astronomy or mathematics and has only an ordinary educated person’s power of following scientific reasoning.

Biography.

To accomplish my object within the limits of a tiny volume, it has been necessary to pay the strictest attention to compression; this has been effected to some extent by the omission of all but the scantiest treatment of several branches of the subject which would figure prominently in a book written on a different plan or a different scale. I have deliberately abstained from giving any connected account of the astronomy of the Egyptians, Chaldaeans, Chinese, and others to whom the early development of astronomy is usually attributed. On the one hand, it does not appear possible to form an independent opinion on the subject without first-hand knowledge of the documents and inscriptions from which our information is derived. On the other hand, the various Asian scholars who have this knowledge still differ so widely from one another in their interpretations that it appears premature to embody their results in the dogmatic form of a textbook. It has also seemed advisable to lighten the book by omitting—except in a very few simple and essential cases—all accounts of astronomical instruments; I do not remember ever deriving any pleasure or profit from a written description of a scientific instrument before seeing the instrument itself, or one very similar to it. I have abstained from attempting to give my readers what I have never succeeded in obtaining myself. The book’s aim has also necessitated the omission of several significant astronomical discoveries, which find their natural expression in the technical language of mathematics. On this account, I have only been able to describe in the briefest and most general way the beautiful superstructure that several generations of mathematicians have erected on the foundations laid by Newton.

For the same reason, I have been compelled occasionally to occupy a good deal of space in stating in ordinary English what might have been expressed much more briefly, as well as more clearly, by an algebraical formula for the benefit of such mathematicians as may happen to read the book I have added a few mathematical footnotes; otherwise, I have tried to abstain scrupulously from the use of any mathematics beyond simple arithmetic and a few technical terms which are explained in the text. A good deal of space has also been saved by the total omission of, or the briefest possible reference to, a vast number of astronomical facts which do not bear on any well-established general theory. For similar reasons, I have generally abstained from noticing speculative theories that have not been established or refuted. In particular, for these and other reasons (stated more fully at the beginning of chapter XIII.), I have dealt in the briefest possible way with the immense mass of observations via which modern astronomy has accumulated; it would, for example, have been easy to have filled one or more volumes with an account of observations of sun-spots made during the last half-century, and of theories based on them, but I have only given a page or two to the subject.

I have given short biographical sketches of leading astronomers (other than living ones) whenever the material existed and have attempted in this way to make their personalities and surroundings tolerably vivid. Still, I have tried to resist the temptation of filling up space with picturesque details that have no real bearing on scientific progress. The trial of Kepler’s mother for witchcraft is probably quite as interesting as that of Galilei before the Inquisition. Still, I have entirely omitted the first and given a good deal of space to the second because, while the former appeared to be chiefly of curious interest, the latter seemed to me to be not merely a striking incident in the life of a great astronomer, but a part of the history of astronomical thought. I have also inserted many dates, as they occupy very little space and may be helpful to some readers. In contrast, others can easily ignore them to facilitate reference of the dates of birth and death (when known) of every astronomer of note mentioned in the book (other than living ones) that have been put into the Index of Names.

I have not scrupled to give a good deal of space to descriptions of such obsolete theories as appeared to me to form an integral part of astronomical progress. One of the reasons why the history of science is worth studying is that it sheds light on the processes whereby a scientific theory is formed to account for specific facts and then undergoes successive modifications as new facts are gradually brought to bear on it and is perhaps finally abandoned when its discrepancies with facts can no longer be explained or concealed. For example, no modern astronomer as such need be concerned with the Greek scheme of epicycles, but the history of its invention, of its gradual perfection as fresh observations were obtained, of its subsequent failure to stand more stringent tests, and of its final abandonment in favor of a more satisfactory theory, is, I think, a valuable and exciting object-lesson in the scientific method. At any rate, I have written this book with that conviction and have decided very mainly from that point of view what to omit and include.

The book makes no claim to be an original contribution to the subject; it is written largely from second-hand sources, many of which are not very accessible to the general reader. An appendix gives particulars of the authorities used.

I remain grateful to acknowledge the help I have received in my work. Mr. W. W. Rouse Ball, Tutor of Trinity College, whose excellent knowledge of the history of mathematics—a subject very closely connected with astronomy—has made his criticisms of exceptional value, has been kind enough to read the proofs, and has thereby saved me from several errors; he has also given me valuable information about portraits of astronomers. Miss H. M. Johnson has undertaken the laborious and tedious task of reading the whole book in manuscript and proof and verifying the cross-references. Miss F. Hardcastle of Girton College has also read the proofs and verified most of the numerical calculations and the cross-references. To both, I am indebted for the detection of a large number of obscurities in expression, as well as of clerical and other errors and misprints. Miss Johnson has also saved me much time by making the Index of Names, and Miss Hardcastle has rendered me a further service of great value by drawing many diagrams. I am also indebted to Mr. C. E. Inglis of this College for Fig. 81. I have to thank Mr. W. H. Wesley of the Royal Astronomical Society for various references to the literature on the subject, particularly for help accessing multiple illustrations.

I am further indebted to the following bodies and individual astronomers for permission to reproduce photographs and drawings, and in some cases also for the gift of copies of the originals: the Council of the Royal Society, the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Director of the Lick Observatory, the Director of the Instituto Geographico-Militare of Florence, Professor Barnard, Major Darwin, Dr. Gill, M. Janssen, M. Loewy, Mr. E. W. Maunder, Mr. H. Pain, Professor E. C. Pickering, Dr. Schuster, Dr. Max Wolf.

ARTHUR BERRY.