The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820–1920

Abstract

Though astronomy is not without its practical applications (to navigation, for example), the main motivation for its study has always been intellectual and aesthetic stimulation. It has therefore appealed to a much wider audience than its relatively few professionals. In our time such professionals conduct nearly all of its research, backed by a large body of serious amateurs who provide support, interest, and help in disseminating the results. But in Victorian Britain it was the other way around, with the amateurs leading the way in instrumentation, observation, and interpretation. Thus The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820–1920 is of considerably broader interest for the history of astronomy than might be gathered from the title.