Eclipse and Revelation Total Solar Eclipses in Science, History, Literature, and the Arts

by Lange, Henrike; McLeish, Tom

• ISBN13: 9780192857996
• ISBN10: 0192857991
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2024-05-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Tom McLeish, Professor of Natural Philosopy, University of York,Henrike Lange, Associate Professor, Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture, University of California at Berkeley

Henrike Lange is Associate Professor of History of Art and Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Historian of art, architecture, and literature, Lange is best known for her work on Italian medieval and Renaissance art and literature, including her publications on artists such as Giotto, Donatello, Mantegna, and research on writers such as Augustine, Dante, and Petrarch.

Tom McLeish FRS was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York. Theoretical physicist and “penseur anglais”, McLeish is best known for his groundbreaking work in soft matter physics and polymers, rheology, history of science, and theology of science, as well as being a Reader in the Anglican Church. He was awarded the 2018 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship and his scientific-theological legacy includes the Christian leadership in the sciences initiative, ECLAS (Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science). Eclipse & Revelation is Tom McLeish's final project and scholarly testament.

Table of Contents

Preface - "Cosmos" is for Harmony, Henrike Christiane Lange (University of California, Berkeley) & Tom McLeish (University of York)
Introduction - Chasing the Total Solar Eclipse: On the Road and in the Archive, Henrike Christiane Lange (University of California, Berkeley) & Tom McLeish (University of York)
PART I - COSMOS
1. The Cosmic Clockwork: The How and When of Total Solar Eclipses, Tom McLeish (University of York) and Mike Frost (British Astronomical Association)
2. The Unveiling of the Corona, Jay Pasachoff (Williams College)
3. Pre-Modern Astronomies of Eclipses in the Near-East and Europe, Philip Nothaft (All Souls College Oxford)
4. From Science to Story: Testimony of an Eclipse Chaser, (British Astronomical Association)
PART II - HISTORY AND RELIGION
5. Solar Eclipses Across Early Asia, John Steele (Brown University)
6. 'The Face of the World Was Wretched, Horrifying, Black, Remarkable: Solar Eclipses in the Middle Ages, Giles Gasper (Durham University)
7. Annus Tenebrosus: Black Monday, Faith, and Political Fervour in Early Modern England, Anna Marie Roos (University of Lincoln)
8. Signs and Portents: Reflections on the History of Solar Eclipses, David Bentley-Hart (NDIAS)
PART III - ARTS AND LITERATURE
9. Dante's Total Eclipses, Alison Cornish (New York University)
10. Eclipsed? The Nineteenth-Century Quest to Capture Solar Eclipses in Art, Science, and Technology, Roberta J.M. Olson (Wheaton College, Massachusetts, and The New-York Historical Society Museum & Library)
11. Total Eclipse of the Art: Vision, Occlusion, Representation, Henrike Christiane Lange (University of California, Berkeley)
12. When Words Fail: Eclipse, Music, and Sound, Elaine Stratton Hild (Universität Würzburg)
PART IV - ANIMALS, WEATHER, ENVIRONMENT
13. Animal Behaviour and Eclipse, Steven Portugal (Royal Holloway)
14. Weather and the Solar Eclipse: Nature's Meteorological Experiment, Giles Harrison (Department of Meteorology, University of Reading)
Conclusion - The Moon and the Sun in the Afternoon, Henrike Christiane Lange (University of California, Berkeley) and Tom McLeish (University of York)
APPENDIX I - The Eclipse Chaser's Toolkit, Mike Frost (British Astronomical Association)