TY - JOUR

T1 - Harriot's maps of the moon

T2 - new interpretations

AU - Pumfrey, Stephen

PY - 2009/6/20

Y1 - 2009/6/20

N2 - July 2009 is the 400th anniversary of the first telescopic observations of the Moon, made by the English scientist Thomas Harriot. Galileo's later drawings were more influential, but some historians now question the traditional view that Harriot's were inferior. Galileo's revealed the mountainous topography of the Moon, but Harriot's arguably had the different, cartographical aim of plotting lunar features precisely. This article suggests that, influenced by the remarkable work of his contemporary William Gilbert, Harriot may have devised or used his splendid Moon map, like Gilbert, to observe the phenomenon of lunar libration decades before Galileo announced its existence.

AB - July 2009 is the 400th anniversary of the first telescopic observations of the Moon, made by the English scientist Thomas Harriot. Galileo's later drawings were more influential, but some historians now question the traditional view that Harriot's were inferior. Galileo's revealed the mountainous topography of the Moon, but Harriot's arguably had the different, cartographical aim of plotting lunar features precisely. This article suggests that, influenced by the remarkable work of his contemporary William Gilbert, Harriot may have devised or used his splendid Moon map, like Gilbert, to observe the phenomenon of lunar libration decades before Galileo announced its existence.

KW - Harriot

KW - moon

KW - astronomy

KW - telescope

KW - 1610

KW - Gilbert

U2 - 10.1098/rsnr.2008.0062

DO - 10.1098/rsnr.2008.0062

M3 - Journal article

VL - 63

SP - 163

EP - 168

JO - Notes and Records of the Royal Society

JF - Notes and Records of the Royal Society

SN - 0035-9149

IS - 2

ER -