Bücher von Charles Piazzi Smyth

A poor man's photography at the Great Pyramid in the year 1865: - Compared with that of the ordnance survey establishment, subsidized by London wealth, and under the orders of Col. Sir Henry James is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1870.Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) was appointed to the post of Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Regius Professor of Astronomy at Edinburgh University in 1846. He was respected for his practical work, and his Teneriffe, an Astronomer's Experiment (1858) is also reissued in this series. However, this book, first published in 1864, is testimony to the author's interest in 'pyramidology', and although it was so popular in his own lifetime that it was reprinted five times, his eccentric interpretation of the data he had collected by measuring all aspects of the Great Pyramid of Giza damaged his scientific reputation. Smyth was convinced that the British measurement standard of an inch as a basic unit of length was associated with the sacred cubit of the Bible. This measure was supposedly incorporated in the Pyramid, which he claimed was built under divine guidance by the Ancient Israelites, and enshrined scientific information.

The experiences and challenges undertaken by C. Piazzi Smyth during his expedition to Tenerife on behalf of the Astronomer Royal are richly depicted and illustrated in this descriptive report of a major scientific expedition's course. The experiment was 'to ascertain how far astronomical observation can be improved, by eliminating the lower third part of the atmosphere'. This account of the data collection process details the flexibility and adjustments that were required throughout the course of this experiment, and the practical organisational difficulties and delights of leading such an expedition. The joys and interest of travelling in a foreign land are described with anecdotes of the people, flora, fauna and geography; particularly the research area, a volcano. Although first published in 1858 this detailed account of the experience of collecting precise scientific data in a challenging environment provides fascinating insights for any scientist undertaking research in the wild.