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Tag Archives: astronomy

Stromlo: an Australian observatory

Few institutional histories could boast such a dramatic conclusion as Stromlo: an Australian observatory. The manuscript was substantially complete when a savage firestorm swept through the pine plantations flanking Mount Stromlo, destroying all the major telescopes and many of the observatory’s buildings. Among the losses was the Oddie Dome, built in 1911 to test the [...]

Posted 01 June 2004 † tim § history of australian science § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , ,

The history of Australian science

HISTORY OF SCIENCE in Australia is a field intimidated by its subject. Historians have been too slow to examine the local context of knowledge production and use, deferring to scientists and their uncritical catalogues of the past. Historical analysis has given way, too often, to the antiquarian plod or the celebratory frolic.

Posted 15 November 1998 † tim § articles and book chapters § history of australian science ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , ,

A wartime observatory observed

Ben Gascoigne, a young New Zealand physicist, stepped off the train at Canberra station. It was August 1941. A tall, good-looking man strode across the platform to greet him. ‘Woolley’ he said, offering his hand, ‘Do you play bridge?’. That evening Ben Gascoigne found himself seated at a bridge table in Woolley’s residence at the [...]

Posted 03 January 1996 † tim § drafts § history of australian science ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,