Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics by Mary Br眉ck, Cambridge University Press, 拢35, ISBN 0521808448 Reviewed by Carole Stott
THEY don鈥檛 make astronomers like Agnes Clerke any more. At the tender age of 15, she decided to write a history of astronomy 鈥� the first indication of a rare sense of determination. Mary Br眉ck鈥檚 biography is a detailed and insightful look at a fascinating life.
A bank manager鈥檚 daughter, Clerke was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, in 1842. In her early years she lived in Dublin and Florence, finally settling in London. At 35, she embarked on a literary career and subsequently became an accomplished commentator on astronomy. Her major work, A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century, was first published in 1885 and went through four editions, the last appearing in 1902.
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Clerke鈥檚 stylish, erudite overview plots the transition of astronomy from a mere playground for devotees of Newtonian celestial mechanics, confined to city-centre observatories, to the jewel in the crown of cosmic astrophysicists using huge mountain-top instruments. Everyone interested in modern astronomy and its history owes a huge debt to this book. It is still a treasure trove.
Clerke noted that she was 鈥渘ot at home with instruments, and am very short-sighted. So I have every type of disqualification for observational astronomy.鈥� Even so, she did spend a brief time with David Gill at the Cape Observatory in South Africa using a spectrometer to investigate certain unusual stars.
Clerke became a lifelong friend to many of the world鈥檚 leading astronomers and was a persistent and enquiring correspondent. But she was much more than a populariser of astronomy.
Her ability to assimilate and analyse a vast amount of new research work enabled her to produce a stimulating and critical survey, not only of what had been done but also of what astronomers ought to be doing with the powerful instruments of their day. This led to her three other major works: The System of the Stars (1890 and 1905), Problems in Astrophysics (1903) and Modern Cosmogonies (1905).
Br眉ck has produced a brilliant biography. But it鈥檚 also a revealing investigation of the role of women in astronomy at the turn of the last century, and of the transition of astronomical practitioners from rich, privately funded amateurs to today鈥檚 professional wage slave.