Abstract Summary
The Session aims at discussing, from different case studies, the importance of global projects in the development of astronomy during the 19th and 20th centuries. The main goal is to reflect about how institutions (astronomical observatories, maritime services, telegraphic and rail offices, etc.) approached locally a whole set of common global problems – from solar parallax in the first half of the 19th century to the “Carte du Ciel”, including the problem of time ones, the determination of the prime meridian and the creation of an electrical world map. Another goal is analyzing of how these networks spread from a local-global intersection. Reports from Europe and the US (such as those from the French Bureau des Longitudes and the American Bureau of Navigation), as well as the correspondence and the diaries of astronomers, mostly minimizes and denies the role played by local institutions. This Session aims at making visible such stories. Another objective is to analyze the astronomical enterprises of the period (such as expeditions to observe the transit of planets or total solar eclipses) and the mobility of people and instruments in such global projects. The questions we are looking for are:How do case studies (national, regional, etc.) relate to global networks? What role did play local communities and institutions (observatories, government agencies, amateurs, etc.) in these global networks? How can these networks be studied from a local approach without losing sight of the global meaning they had? How is the globality of science constructed?
Self-Designated Keywords :
Astronomy, Global-Local, Scientific Networks
