An observatory and a lighthouse form the nexus of this major new investigation of science, religion, and the state in late Ottoman Egypt. Astronomy, imperial bureaucrats, traditionally educated Muslim scholars, and reformist Islamic publications, such as The Lighthouse, are linked to examine the making of knowledge, the performance of piety, and the operation of political power through scientific practice. Contrary to ideas of Islamic scientific decline, Muslim scholars in the nineteenth century used a dynamic tradition of knowledge to measure time, compute calendars, and predict planetary positions. The rise of a 'new astronomy' is revealed to owe much to projects of political and religious reform: from the strengthening of the multiple empires that exercised power over the Nile Valley; to the 'modernization' of Islamic centers of learning; to the dream of a global Islamic community that would rely on scientific institutions to coordinate the timing of major religious duties.

This history of astronomy in Egypt reveals how modern science came to play an authoritative role in Islamic religious practice.

A lavish coffee-table book featuring spectacular images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the most powerful X-Ray telescope ever built Take a journey through the cosmos with Light from the Void, a stunning collection of photographs from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's two decades of operation. The book showcases rarely-seen celestial phenomena such as black holes, planetary nebulae, galaxy clusters, gravitational waves, stellar birth and death, and more. Accompanying these images of incredible natural phenomena are captions explaining how they occur. The images start close to home and move outward: beginning with images of the Chandra launch, then moving into the solar system, through the nearby universe, and finally to the most distant galaxies Chandra has observed, the book brings readers on a far-out visual voyage.

"A review of astronomy" (varies).

An overview of the history and ornithological significance of the Bird Observatories of Britain.

Henry Rowland (1848-1901) was one of the most important figures in the founding of modern physics in the U.S. A principal founder and first pres. of the Amer. Physical Soc., he is best known for his invention of the concave spectral grating for which he won a gold medal and grand prize at the 1890 Paris Exposition. A grad. of Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. in civil engineering, Rowland was prof. of physics at Johns Hopkins Univ., where he had the principal part in forming the first school of Amer. physicists to be professionally trained in the U.S. In this vol., Sweetnam, using Rowland's papers and those of his colleagues and students, has written the first scholarly exposition of Rowland's work.

A comprehensive survey of the valuable work undertaken by Britain's network of bird observatories, with summaries and tables of noteworthy events and much historical background. Bird observatories are research stations established mainly for the study of migration, particularly by means of ringing. There are now 18 scattered around the Britain and Ireland at key points on migration routes, on coastal promontories or small islands. Part of their attraction is the regular occurrence of rarities that are found each year at these observatories. Written by wardens and ringers from each location, Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland is a timely new edition of one of the earliest Poyser titles. It includes detailed coverage of the history, location, habitats and ornithological interest of each observatory, including summaries and tables of noteworthy events.

Includes list of members.

New Hampshire's seacoast may be just 18 miles long, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for with centuries of fascinating maritime history. Portsmouth developed along the banks of the Piscataqua River to become the state's colonial capital and a center of trade and shipbuilding. Portsmouth Harbor's 1771 lighthouse was the first lighthouse established in the American colonies north of Boston. A few miles offshore, Native Americans were fishing and hunting at the archipelago known as the Isles of Shoals for centuries before the islands were developed by European fishermen and settlers in the 1600s, and a lighthouse was established at the southernmost island in 1821. Inland, three wooden lighthouses were built on Lake Sunapee in the late 1800s to guide steamships full of vacationers to their destinations around the lake. All of these locations have stories to tell of dedicated keepers and their families, shipwrecks, rescues, and much more.