4 options
Measuring the new world : enlightenment science and South America / Neil Safier.
De Gruyter University of Chicago Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 Available online
View online- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Safier, Neil.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Mission géodésique (France).
- Scientific expeditions--Ecuador--Quito--History--18th century.
- Scientific expeditions.
- Science--Europe--History--18th century.
- Science.
- Communication in science--Europe--History--18th century.
- Communication in science.
- Ecuador--Discovery and exploration--French.
- Ecuador.
- Amazon River Region--Discovery and exploration.
- Amazon River Region.
- South America--Historical geography.
- South America.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (406 p.)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Prior to 1735, South America was terra incognita to many Europeans. But that year, the Paris Academy of Sciences sent a mission to the Spanish American province of Quito (in present-day Ecuador) to study the curvature of the earth at the Equator. Equipped with quadrants and telescopes, the mission's participants referred to the transfer of scientific knowledge from Europe to the Andes as a "sacred fire" passing mysteriously through European astronomical instruments to observers in South America. By taking an innovative interdisciplinary look at the traces of this expedition, Measuring the New World examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, as well as specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.
- Contents:
- The ruined pyramids of Yaruqui
- An enlightened Amazon, with fables and a fold-out map
- Armchair explorers
- Correcting Quito
- A nation defamed and defended
- Incas in the king's garden
- The golden monkey and the monkey-worm.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-371) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9786611966386
- 9781281966384
- 128196638X
- 9780226733562
- 0226733564
- OCLC:
- 309877290
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.