As an historian of science specializing in nineteenth century natural history, I enjoyed Steve Ruskin's tale of the scientific community's and the general public's enthusiastic response to the Great Eclipse of 1878. As a native of Colorado, I also enjoyed this vivid portrait of my state in its early years, particularly because Ruskin covers so much of daily life -- the logistics of housing thousands of tourists, the duels between the various newspapers, the celebrity status of the visiting scientists, the desperate hope that Colorado's weather wouldn't do one of its typical sudden turns and obstruct the very phenomenon that so many had traveled to witness. Prof. Ruskin makes good use of contemporary writings to describe the excitement leading up to the event, the logistical challenges of doing scientific work at high altitude, and the awe at the surreal experience of totality.
I also appreciate how he gave balanced coverage to both the prominent scientific figures and to the public's participation in what we now call crowd-sourced science, including a discussion of the National Observatory's instructions for eclipse viewing through homemade smoked glass, and its request that observers send their drawings and descriptions to the N.O. afterwards. He includes in his survey the party of women from Vasser, led by the nation's first female astronomy professor, as well as a discussion of the few Native American responses and the severe tensions between the Indians and the frontier settlers/visitors at this point ten years after the completion of the trans-Continental railroad.
The story is well-paced, vividly told, plump with juicy anecdotes like the fact that the US military signal station at the top of Pike's Peak had received no notice that they were going to be invaded by east coast scientific dignitaries who expected shelter and support for their work -- one wonders just what kind of signals were going into and out of that station that omitted such and important note. I also enjoyed his perusal of newspaper advertisements for impromptu lodging [billiard tables, stables, front porches, and pretty much anywhere horizontal and out of the elements] made available to this sudden influx of tourists, unprecedented in CO's experience.
I was particularly struck by the descriptions written by an anonymous gentleman fortunate enough to join one of the astronomical parties. While the others were completely fixated on their instruments, this person simply watched the surreal transformation of the world under the moon's shadow, and in the light of the corona, which is like no other light we see. He awe and delight are so apparent, and as he is anonymous, we are left with an oddly deeper connection to the experience because he is just a guy, as the majority of us are just folks who happen to be in the path of such a grand natural event.
Finally, Ruskin does an excellent job of making the science not only accessible but also exciting to average readers. Are they going to find the mysterious planet Vulcan? Will they actually learn what elements are burning in the solar corona? Will Mr. Edison's delicate heat sensor perform as well as he'd promised? The conclusion explains how the Great Eclipse is the moment when American astronomy shifted from positional [studying where things are] to physical [studying chemistry, qualities of light, etc.] during this period, so the scientists were turning a novel arsenal of instruments onto the sun [for three minutes! so little time!] for the first time. Also, their experience working in Colorado and Wyoming firmly settled the question about placing major observatories at high altitude because the quality of the viewing was far superior to that possible at sea level. ng scientific work at high altitude, and the awe at the surreal experience of totality.
This is a compact, lively piece of narrative social history and would be an excellent choice for a undergraduate survey course on the history of science in America or science from 1800 to the present.
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