What kind of object is a planet? Lisa Messeri’s new book asks and addressed this question in a fascinating ethnography that explores how scientific practices transform planets into places and helps us understand why that matters not just for how we understand outer space, but also for how we understand the Earth and ourselves. Based on 15 months of participant observation in 2009 and 2010 … Continue reading Placing Outer Space: An Interview
Janet Vertesi’s fascinating new book is an ethnography of the Mars Rover mission that takes readers into the practices involved in working with the two robotic explorers Spirit and Opportunity. Based on two years of immersive ethnography from 2006-2008, Seeing like a Rover: How Robots, Teams, and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars (University of Chicago Press, 2015) focuses on the visuality of the mission, exploring “how scientists and engineers on Earth … Continue reading Seeing Like a Rover: An Interview
In Omar Nasim’s new book, a series of fascinating characters sketch, paint, and etch their way toward a mapping of the cosmos and the human mind. His book examines the history of observation of celestial nebulae in the nineteenth century, exploring the relationships among the acts of seeing, drawing, and knowing in producing visual knowledge about the heavens and its bodies. We had a chance to talk about … Continue reading Observing by Hand: An Interview
I recently spoke with David Munns about his spirited new book on radio astronomy and transnational science during the Cold War. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading A Single Sky: An Interview
I had the pleasure of talking with historian Catherine Jami recently about her new book on science and mathematics during Kangxi’s reign. This one will be of interest to both historians of science and scholars of Chinese history. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading The Emperor’s New Mathematics: An Interview
Carla Nappi 