On the course of the stars and the going of clocks. Astronomy and precision horology in Germany around 1800
Final Report Abstract
The project investigated the emergence of the concept of the precision clock. Since the 18th century, sciences and related disciplines have been increasingly influenced by ideas of quantification: the ‘world of the approximate’ became the ‘universe of precision’ (Koyré). Despite the fact that astronomy, as ‘one of the oldest exact sciences’ (Heilbron), has relied on mathematical methods for millennia, it too experienced the emergence of a new culture of precision from the late 17th century onwards, with the founding of the observatories in Paris and Greenwich. This culture substantially rested on newly developed instruments, which included the pendulum clock in particular. The secondary literature has so far focused almost exclusively on the description of its technological development, while the practices of clock use, especially also in astronomy, have remained largely unstudied. This gap was closed by the project. By examining the practices associated with clocks, their handling, care and control, the project was able to trace the emergence of a concept of precision clearly distinct from related concepts such as accuracy. In addition to analysing a variety of historical sources, including observation journals and correspondences, the project developed a statistical method for evaluating historical performance data of clocks. Thereby, clocks from different observatories could be compared with each other and the results compared with the local conditions that existed in the respective places. In consequence, it transpired that the era was characterised by experimentation and diversity, both in terms of the technology used and the way timepieces were handled. A discussion of both components only developed in the course of the 18th century, involving both clockmakers and scholars or scientific users of clocks. The standardisation of clock technology and clock practices can be seen as the result of this discourse. Careful individual observations, in which clocks were often judged by their momentary accuracy, i.e. their conformity to a time standard, developed into fixed observation procedures in which the stability of the clock's movement and thus its precision came to the fore. The supposedly accurate clock thus became an instrument whose error was known and whose performance was predictable. The precision clock is thus more than the result of technical advances, namely the result of an interplay between technology and use. Since both clock technology and clock practices differed throughout the 18th century depending on the instrumentation, tasks and knowledge within the individual observatories, the history of precision within astronomy should also be seen as a local history whose development reflects the respective circumstances and conditions. Only through discourse within the astronomical community did an increasing standardisation occur towards the end of the 18th century, the result of which was the 'precision clock'. The concept thus did not simply refer to a specific type of object, but at a complex enity of object and associated practices.
Publications
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Scientific Instrument Commission, XXXVII Symposium, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Leiden, Harlem, Vortrag: “Precision Timepieces for Astronomy: Patterns of Collaboration between Astronomers and Clockmakers in the 19th Century”
Sibylle Gluch
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Koninklijk Eise Eisinga Planetarium, Franeker Workshop: „Understanding Eisinga’s Case: Non Scholarly Practitioners around 1800“ Vortrag: “Urania’s Unassuming Friends: The ‘Paysans’ Christian Gärtner and Johann Georg Palitzsch between Astronomical Pastimes and Serious Science”
Sibylle Gluch
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Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Dresden Workshop: „Promises of Precision – Questioning Precision in ‚Precision’ Instruments“ Vortrag: “Time Troubles: Equation Clocks and Ideas of Precision in early 18th-Century Observatories”
Sibylle Gluch
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Obtaining Quality in Marginal Places: The Clocks and Quadrants of the Clementinum Observatory in Prague in the 18th Century. Revue d'histoire des sciences, Tome 74(1), 85-118.
Gluch, Sibylle
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Scientific Instrument Commission, XL Symposium, Prague (online) Vortrag: “A Matter of Trust and Control: Questioning the Precision of 'Precision Clocks' in 18th-Century Observatories”
Sibylle Gluch & Michael Korey
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Universität Siegen Université de Neuchâtel / Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chauxde-Fonds Workshop: „Astronomical Observatories and Chronometry: Time, Science and Instruments“, Vortrag: “A Question of Trust: The Performance of Clocks in 18th-Century Observatories”
Sibylle Gluch & Alfred Müller
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Timing the stars: Clocks and complexities of precision in eighteenth-century observatories. History of Science, 62(3), 329-365.
Gluch, Sibylle
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“Astronomical Pursuits of the ‘Common Man’ and the Public Image of Science”, in: Devotees of Science: Cultivating Astronomy, Technical and Natural Knowledge around 1800, ed. Nikolaj Bijleveld, Arjen Dijkstra, Samuel Gessner, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, erscheint 2023.
Sibylle Gluch
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Promises of precision: questioning precision in ‘precision’ instruments. Annals of Science, 81(1-2), 1-9.
Gluch, Sibylle
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Time troubles: clocks and practices of precision in early eighteenth-century observatories. Annals of Science, 81(1-2), 160-188.
Gluch, Sibylle
