Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project
The article provides an introduction to a on-going research project based at University of Tromsø that seeks to analyze the history of efforts to make sense of the aurora borealis from the early 1700s through to the Cold War. Following brilliant displays of the northern lights in the early eighteent...
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Language: | English Norwegian |
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Septentrio Academic Publishing
2012
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2301 https://doaj.org/article/8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 2023-05-15T15:07:30+02:00 Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project Robert Marc Friedman 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2301 https://doaj.org/article/8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 EN NO eng nor Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/2301 https://doaj.org/toc/0809-1668 https://doaj.org/toc/1503-2086 doi:10.7557/13.2301 0809-1668 1503-2086 https://doaj.org/article/8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 Nordlit: Tidsskrift i litteratur og kultur, Vol 16, Iss 1 (2012) Aurora borealis science in the far north polar research history of science Norwegian literature PT8301-9155 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2301 2022-12-31T02:06:51Z The article provides an introduction to a on-going research project based at University of Tromsø that seeks to analyze the history of efforts to make sense of the aurora borealis from the early 1700s through to the Cold War. Following brilliant displays of the northern lights in the early eighteenth century, natural philosophers strove to explain this phenomenon that evoked widespread fear and superstition. It was not until well into the twentieth century that consensual explanation emerged for this, one of the great enigmas in the history of science. From the start, the quest to explain the aurora borealis became enmeshed with patriotic science and nationalist sentiments. The history of efforts to understand the nature and cause of the aurora poses a number of thematic problems. Being a fleeting and at times rapidly changing phenomenon, only occasionally seen south of far-northern latitudes, the aurora needed to be constituted as an object able to be brought into the domain of rational science. Observational accounts of the aurora came most often from by personsliving or travelling in the far north or in the Arctic, but these persons were generally not trained scientists: Whose witnessing counted and how was authority negotiated among professional scientists and amateurs? Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic University of Tromsø Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Tromsø Nordlit 16 1 59 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Norwegian |
topic |
Aurora borealis science in the far north polar research history of science Norwegian literature PT8301-9155 |
spellingShingle |
Aurora borealis science in the far north polar research history of science Norwegian literature PT8301-9155 Robert Marc Friedman Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
topic_facet |
Aurora borealis science in the far north polar research history of science Norwegian literature PT8301-9155 |
description |
The article provides an introduction to a on-going research project based at University of Tromsø that seeks to analyze the history of efforts to make sense of the aurora borealis from the early 1700s through to the Cold War. Following brilliant displays of the northern lights in the early eighteenth century, natural philosophers strove to explain this phenomenon that evoked widespread fear and superstition. It was not until well into the twentieth century that consensual explanation emerged for this, one of the great enigmas in the history of science. From the start, the quest to explain the aurora borealis became enmeshed with patriotic science and nationalist sentiments. The history of efforts to understand the nature and cause of the aurora poses a number of thematic problems. Being a fleeting and at times rapidly changing phenomenon, only occasionally seen south of far-northern latitudes, the aurora needed to be constituted as an object able to be brought into the domain of rational science. Observational accounts of the aurora came most often from by personsliving or travelling in the far north or in the Arctic, but these persons were generally not trained scientists: Whose witnessing counted and how was authority negotiated among professional scientists and amateurs? |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robert Marc Friedman |
author_facet |
Robert Marc Friedman |
author_sort |
Robert Marc Friedman |
title |
Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
title_short |
Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
title_full |
Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
title_fullStr |
Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
title_full_unstemmed |
Making Sense of the Aurora: A Research Project |
title_sort |
making sense of the aurora: a research project |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2301 https://doaj.org/article/8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 |
geographic |
Arctic Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Tromsø |
genre |
Arctic University of Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Arctic University of Tromsø |
op_source |
Nordlit: Tidsskrift i litteratur og kultur, Vol 16, Iss 1 (2012) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/2301 https://doaj.org/toc/0809-1668 https://doaj.org/toc/1503-2086 doi:10.7557/13.2301 0809-1668 1503-2086 https://doaj.org/article/8c9842c492474445a79c2bfb51fd41d1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/13.2301 |
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Nordlit |
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16 |
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1 |
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59 |
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1766338987479269376 |