Tuesday 8 January 2013

The race to unearth the secrets of Venus revealed in Chasing Venus

From The Week of December 31, 2012

No matter how far we advance, our search for scientific knowledge and spiritual understanding will never end. For while we can explore the depths of our oceans and search out life among the stars, we can peer into the heart of atoms and measure the heft of galaxies, we will never solve all of the universe's mysteries. To do so, we'd become like gods, so far removed from our human shells, our biological brains, that we would no longer be who we are today, creatures driven by a desire to know, by a need to see, by the thirst to compel the enigmas of our world to surrender their secrets. As much as any other characteristic, this is what defines us, a fact made all the more apparent by Ms. Wulf's engaging micro history.

The brightest planet in our sky, Venus has, for millennia, captivated humanity. Endowed with divinity by various faiths and recognized as an enigma by others, its eccentric orbit has caused it to be identified as both the Morning Star and the Evening Star, positions it occupies at various points in the year. In more recent times, astronomers even bestowed upon it an Earth-like atmosphere, speculation that flowed from a strange, visual effect, seen from Earth, when Venus eclipses the sun. Only Mars has prompted more astronomical and astrological musings, though, even here Venus outstrips its red brother. For its unusual cosmic dance with Earth allows those of us in the present to better understand human cultures of the past which associated Venus with the number eight, the number of years that separate the two ends of Venus' once-in-a-century transit.

For centuries, this was all Venus was, a heavenly object made sacred by a lack of scientific understanding. But when human society rose out of the ashes of Middle-Age ignorance to embrace the Renaissance of science and discovery, Venus became not only a point of study, it was recognized as the key to fathoming the distance of Earth from its sun. By measuring Venus during its stellar transit, astronomers could calculate the stellar parallax, providing a conclusive answer to one of the outstanding questions of the Copernican era. There was just one problem. Venus only eclipses the sun only twice every 105 years. Should weather or circumstance conspire to thwart the efforts of astronomers to take measurements from this transit, they would have to come back eight years later and try again. And should they again be defeated by misfortune, they would be long dead before they would ever again see its like.

In Chasing Venus, Ms. Wulf chronicles the most pivotal of these transit cycles, the 18th-century pairing which, first in 1761 and then in 1769, allowed astronomers to take the stellar parallax. Introducing her readers to the scientific minds of the day, the author describes the extraordinary efforts of various European scientific societies to dispatch their best and most adventurous minds to key points on the globe where the observing of Venus' transit would be most advantageous. But while the harrowing journeys of these mostly brave men provides the backbone to Ms. Wulf's history, her examination of Europe and its politics during this time grants it its punch. For while scientists and astronomers agitated with their royal governments for the funds and the indulgences to execute this rare and intricate endeavor, their needs and desires were utterly eclipsed by the agendas of the monarchs of Russia and Britain, France and Germany, powerful men and women who not only controlled the fates of millions, but used this astronomical oddity to advance the dignity of their kingdoms. This two-tiered perspective allows the novel to operate on scales both individual and imperial, local and global, without losing any of its poignance.

There's no question that Ms. Wulf's work is buoyed by the remarkable efforts of now forgotten men, scientists who braved Siberian winters and equatorial summers to better understand their world. The sheer amount of thought, planning and effort that these individuals invested just in the hope for clear skies and good readings is inspiring. Today, it takes only hours to fly anywhere in the world. We need not brave tempestuous seas and their ruthless pirates, we need not be subject to unknowable diseases and the whims of royal governments. And yet, this achievement meant more to them than it does to us even though it is easily within our grasp. However, for as much as the material sings, Ms. Wulf's contributions are up to the task of reminding us of our past and the giants who characterized it. As excellent as it is expeditious... (4/5 Stars)

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