Epic Moon

Sheehan and Dobbins: Epic Moon (2001)

(glossary entry)

Description

Excellent book on the history of visual observations of the Moon, or as the subtitle accurately says, A history of lunar exploration in the age of the telescope. Written by William P. Sheehan and Thomas A. Dobbins.
 
 

Additional Information

• Review by Tom Trusock (2004).

Review by Danny Caes (spring 2014)

• Although this is a VERY interesting book (!), it could have been much more interesting if something was mentioned about the French selenographer Felix Chemla Lamech and his Aires Elliptiques. Unfortunately, Felix C. Lamech seems to be non-existent.
• The so-called "Cross" of Robert E. Curtiss (at Fra Mauro Zeta) is also missing, or...?? (anyway, I can't see Curtiss in the alphabetic index).
• This book contains several typographical errors. Where on earth (or on the moon) was the proof-reader who was supposed to detect possible errors during pre-press activities? I would like to know if there ever will be a second revised printing.
• On page 5 of the book, it looks like a piece of text is missing (probably "interrupted" by Figure 1.1)(the portrait of Galileo Galilaei and accompanying text).
• The orbital photograph of Vallis Schroteri and its Cobra Head (page 324, figure 17.18) was made during Apollo 15, not Apollo 14 (Apollo 14 was an equatorial mission, the Vallis Schroteri's location is much too northward).
• The alphabetic index of this book is not at all complete, and contains several typographical errors. See my additional appendix-list below!

Danny's additional appendix to the book's incomplete alphabetic index (pages 357-363)

There's a lot of absent names in the book's alphabetic index (although these people are mentioned in the book itself).
  Several observatories, also mentioned in the book, are (just like the missing people) absent in the index.
  In other words, unlike the index there are much more people and observatories included in this book!
  It's a worthwile pastime to try to find the corresponding Wikipedia pages for each one of the mentioned (missing) persons and observatories! I think this is the most perfect symbiosis of a printed book and the internet.
 
 A
 

• Abraham (Abraham, page 355 - Epilogue)
• Agassiz (Louis Agassiz, page 229)
• Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham aka Alhazen or Alhacen, or al-Basri, page 20)
• Altona observatory (Altona observatory, page 159)
• Anaxagoras (Anaxagoras, page 285)
• Antoniadi (Eugene Michel Antoniadi, page 274)
• Archer (Frederick Scott Archer, page 132)

B

• Ball (Robert Stawell Ball, page 195)
• Balshezzar (this name was probably the victim of typographical errors, could be (or should be?) Belshazzar, page 344)
• Barth (Wilhelm Barth, Johann Ambrosius Barth, Adolph Ambrosius Barth, page 116 - Reference 8)(see also: Johann Ambrosius Barth Verlag)
• Bedford (Mr.Bedford, together with Mr.Cavor one of the two protagonists in The First Men in the Moon by H.G.Wells, page 255)
• Beer (Michael Beer, page 103)(brother of Wilhelm Beer)
• Beer (Wilhelm Wolff Beer, page 101)

Strange to say, the main one of the many Beer's (Wilhelm Beer) is not mentioned in the index. The same phenomenon is seen at Nasmyth.

• Berlin observatory (page 99)
• Bickerton (Alexander William Bickerton, page 299)
• Binder (Alan B. Binder, page 351 - Reference 35)
• Birmingham (John Birmingham, page 195)
• Blondlot (Prosper-René Blondlot, page 316)
• Bohnenberger (possibly Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, on page 84 of in the book he is mentioned as "a Professor Bohnenberger")
• Bond or G.P.Bond (George Phillips Bond, page 261 - Reference 27)
• Bonn observatory (page 159)
• Boyden (Uriah Atherton Boyden, page 235)
• Brenner (Leo Brenner, see Spiridon Gopcevic, page 273)
• Browning (John Browning, page 157)
• Bruhns (Karl Christian Bruhns, page 159)(see at: Galle and Bruhns of the Royal Observatory)
• Brush (Stephen G. Brush, page 297)
• Buckingham (observer of crater Linné, page 169)

C

• Campani (Guiseppe Campani, page 33, Figure 3.8)
• Carpenter (James Carpenter, page 205)
• Cavor (Mr.Cavor, together with Mr.Bedford one of the two protagonists in The First Men in the Moon by H.G.Wells, page 255)
• Chaikin (Andrew L. Chaikin, page 351 - Reference 18)
• Challis (James Challis, page 192)
• Chapman (Allan Chapman, page 202 - Reference 14)(this is probably the British historian of science Allan Chapman)
• Clearchus of Soli (Clearchus of Soli, page 1)
• Comte de Buffon (George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, page 120)

Although this person IS mentioned in the index, he is TWO times mentioned (!), as Leclerc, George-Louis (page 120), and as de Buffon, Comte (also page 120)

• Cooke (Strathmore R.B. Cooke, page 291 - Reference 4)
• Cooke (Thomas Cooke, page 140, Figure 10.1)
• Copenhagen observatory (page 168)
• Coronado (Francisco Vazquez de Coronado y Lujan, page 322)
• Creti (Donato Creti, page 174 - Reference 37)(circa 1700, Donato Creti seems to have made a painting of the Full Moon, which hangs in the Vatican museum)
• Crimean astrophysical observatory (page 313)
• Crossley (Edward Crossley, page 152)
• Cuvier (probably Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier (aka Georges Cuvier), page 123)
• Cynthia Villa (the name of the private observatory of William Radcliffe Birt, at Walthamstow, northeast of London, page 152)

D

• Dampier (Sir William Cecil Dampier, page 325 - Reference 10)(not to be confused with William Dampier)
• Darwin (Charles Robert Darwin, page 180)
• Dawes (William Rutter Dawes, page 192)
• Debussy (Claude Debussy, page 300)
• Democritus (Democritus, page 285)
• Draper (Henry Draper, page 256)(see at: Henry Draper Memorial Telescope)
• Duke (Charles "Charlie" Duke, Apollo 16 astronaut, page 343)

E

• El Misti (or Misti, Putina, Wawa Putina, Guagua Putina)(stratovolcano in Peru)(page 235)
• Ericsson (John Ericsson, page 226)
• Esenbeck (Professor Esenbeck, page 84, see at: Professors Esenbeck and Munchow)

Was this professor Esenbeck one of the brothers Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck and Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck ?

• Euclid (Euclid of Alexandria, page 141)

F

• Forster (Wilhelm Julius Forster, page 167)(see at: Forster and Tietjen)
• Frank (Louis A. Frank, page 292 - Reference 51)(Frank was the author of the book The Big Splash)
• Franz (Julius Heinrich Franz, page 287)

It all started here with the discovery of the absence of Franz (absent in the alphabetic index). The second absent name was Saunder.

G

• Galle (Johann Gottfried Galle, page 159)(see at: Galle and Bruhns of the Royal Observatory)
• Gefken (Harm Gefken, page 67)(see at Sternwarte Lilienthal)
• Gledhill (Joseph Gledhill, page 193)
• Gould (Stephen Jay Gould, page 351 - Reference 27)
• Grant (Andrew Grant, page 89)(Andrew Grant was the amanuensis of Sir John Herschel, see also: Great Moon Hoax)
• Greenwich observatory (page 144)
• Grouner (could this be Johann Samuel von Gruner? (or Grouner). On page 84 of the book he is mentioned as "Professor Grouner", see at: Professors Oersted and Grouner)
• Gunther (probably Adam Wilhelm Siegmund Gunther, page 92 - Reference 1)
• Guter (Gerald Guter, page 318)

H

• Hackman (Robert Hackman, page 338)
• Hakluyt (Richard Hakluyt, page 4)(mentioned as Huyklut in the index)
• Hall (Asaph Hall, page 225)
• Harper (William Rainey Harper, page 325 - Reference 1)
• Henry the Fowler (Henry the Fowler, page 289)
• Heraclitus (Heraclitus of Ephesus, page 285)
• Herodotus (Herodotus, page 146)
• Herschel (Caroline Lucretia Herschel, and also Lady Herschel, page 92)
• Home (Roderick Weir "R.W." Home, page 56)
• Homer (Homer, page 1)

I
J

• Johnson (Samuel Johnson, or Dr.Johnson, page 159)

K

• Keats (John Keats, page 355 - Reference 6)
• Knott (probably George Knott, astronomer, observer of binary stars)(page 199)
• Konig (Rudolf Konig, page 291 - Reference 5)
• Konigsberg observatory (page 105)
• Kreutz (Heinrich Carl Friedrich Kreutz, page 275)
• Krieger (Johann Nepomuk Krieger, page 264)

The absence of the name Krieger in this book's alphabetic index is a real mystery. Johann N. Krieger was one of the most important persons in the history of moon observing and selenography! On the other hand, the appearance of the name Blavatsky in the index (the occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, page 285) is another mystery... (was she an important person in the history of moon observing and selenography?).

L

• Lamprias (Lamprias, page 1)
• Langley (Samuel Pierpont Langley, page 247)
• Leclerc (Sebastien Leclerc, page 33 - Figure 3.8)
• Lick observatory (page 229)
• Locke (John Locke, page 90)
• Lowell observatory (page 290)

M

• MacDonald or T.L.MacDonald (probably Thomas Logie MacDonald, page 288)
• Mach (Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach, page 260 - Reference 7)
• Malvasia (Marquis Malvasia, or Cornelio Malvasia, Marquis di Bismantova, page 27)
• Mang (Adolf Mang, page 276)(who collaborated with Philipp Johann Heinrich Fauth on two popular works on general astronomy; Wegweiser am Himmel and Einfache Himmelskunde)
• Melloni (Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt's name for an enigmatic surface formation north of crater Hansteen, page 275)(see also J.F.J.Schmidt's names)
• Melville (Herman Melville, page 355 - Reference 7)
• Merz (Georg Merz, page 134)
• Milton (John Milton, page 122)
• Munchow (Professor Munchow, page 84, see at: Professors Esenbeck and Munchow)
• Mysius (or Mons Mysius)(should have been a name of Hevelius for crater Triesnecker (page 81)(in his book Mapping and Naming the Moon, Ewen A. Whitaker mentioned craters Rhaeticus + Dembowski as Mons Mysius)

N

• Naples observatory (page 161)
• Nasmyth (James Hall Nasmyth, page 205)

J.H.Nasmyth's father (the painter Alexander Nasmyth) and his brother (the landscape artist Patrick Milner Nasmyth) are mentioned in the index, the main person (James Hall Nasmyth) is not...
The same phenomenon is seen at the Beer brothers and their father (Wilhelm and Michael, and father Jakob Herz Beer).

• Nelson (Horatio Nelson, or 1st Viscount Nelson, page 55)
• Noble (Captain William Noble, page 170)(orbituary notice)

O

• Oberg (James Edward Oberg, page 351 - Reference 21)
• Oersted (possibly Hans Christian Oersted, on page 84 of the book he is mentioned as "Professor Oersted", see at: Professors Oersted and Grouner)
• Osterbrock (Donald Edward Osterbrock, page 325 - Reference 1)
• Ottoboni (Pietro Ottoboni, or Cardinal Ottoboni, page 40)
• Owen (Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, pages 298-299)

P

• Peal (Samuel Edward Peal, page 226) (from several sources on the web: Samuel Edward Peal passed away in Assam, India, on July 29, 1897. He was born December 31, 1834. Originally an artist, he went to India in 1862 as a tea-planter. In 1873 he discovered that tea blight was caused by an Aphis, whose life history he investigated. He did useful work in exploring the Naga Hills to show the practicability of a direct route from India to China. He completed a work on the grasses and trees of Assam, but the MS. was destroyed through the burning of his bungalow. Latterly, he gave much attention to astronomy. His theory of lunar surfacing as due to glaciation was well known at the time of his death, and he wrote a paper on "A Possible Cause of Lunar Libration." He was a frequent contributor to the Indian Press and to Nature on natural history subjects)
• Pericles (Pericles, Prologue - page ix)
• Pfeffel (Johann Andreas Pfeffel, page 44)
• Phillips (Theodore Evelyn Reece Phillips, aka T. E. R. Phillips, page 156)
• Piazzi Smyth (Charles Piazzi Smyth, page 187)
• Pic Du Midi observatory (page 314)
• Pratt (Henry Pratt, page 193) (1838-1891, English watchmaker and observer of the moon)
• Pulfrich (Carl Pulfrich, page 278)
• Pythagoras of Samos (Pythagoras of Samos, page 1)(in the index, only the Pythagoreans are mentioned)

Q

• Quiros (Pedro Fernandes de Queiros, page 322)

R

• Rambaut (Arthur Alcock Rambaut, page 174 - Reference 37)
• Regiomontanus (Johannes Muller von Konigsberg aka Regiomontanus, page 14)(mentioned in the index as Muller, Johann)
• Regnault (Henri Victor Regnault, page 190)

S

• Sadler (probably William Sadler Franks (?), page 199)
• Sagan (Carl Edward Sagan, page 332, Figure 18.4)
• Saunder (Samuel Arthur Saunder, page 287)
• Schiaparelli (Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, page 239)
• Schupmann (Ludwig Ignaz Schupmann, page 283)
• Scrope (George Julius Poulett Scrope, page 226)
• Scultetus (Hans Robert Scultetus, page 290)
• Sellers (F.J.Sellers, page 292 - Reference 42)
• Suess (Eduard Suess, page 217)

T

• Talmage (observer of crater Linné, page 166)(probably C.G.Talmage)
• Tiergarten observatory (page 104)
• Tietjen (Friedrich Tietjen, page 167)(see at: Forster and Tietjen)
• Tombaugh (Clyde William Tombaugh, page 278)
• Tulley (probably Charles Tulley; English optician)(page 142)

U

• Urania Temple (the name of an observatory of Johann Hieronymus Schroter in the Amthaus garden, Lilienthal)(page 60)

V

• Verne (Jules Verne, page 147)
• Vienna observatory (page 84)
• von Bieberstein (brothers Karl Wilhelm Marschall von Bieberstein and Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein, page 86)

Note: both the von Bieberstein brothers are mentioned in the index, BUT, also at von Moll as "Bieberstein von Moll ", see below: The odd von Moll case.

• von Moll (Karl Maria Ehrenbert Freiherr von Moll, page 86)

The odd von Moll case
The alphabetic index of the book EPIC MOON shows two non-existent brothers called "Bieberstein von Moll " and "Gruithuisen von Moll " (??).
According to this book's (erroneously compiled) index, both of these "von Molls" were printed on page 220. Are they? No they aren't.
On page 220 there's the Brothers Bieberstein, only one von Moll, and... Gruithuisen (Baron Franz von Paula (Franciscus de Paula) Gruithuisen)

• von Moltke (Count von Moltke, or Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke, page 195)
• von Treitschke (Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke, page 84)
• von Unkrechtsberg (Eduard von Unkrechtsberg, or Baron von Unkrechtsberg, page 159)
• von Witte (Minna von Witte, or Minna von Madler, wife of Johann Heinrich Madler, page 104, pages 112-113)

W

• Waldthauser (Ellen Waldthauser, page 283)
• Wells (Herbert George Wells, or H.G.Wells, page 255)
• Whymper (Edward Whymper, page 338)
• Wilkes (Charles Wilkes, page 188, Figure 13.2)
• Winckelmann (probably Johann Joachim Winckelmann, page 83)
• Wood (John A. Wood, page 355 - Reference 4)
• Wood (Robert Williams Wood, page 316)
• Worden (Alfred Merrill "Al" Worden, Apollo 15 astronaut, page 343)
• Wright brothers (Orville and Wilbur Wright, page 153 - Reference 25)

X
Y

• Young (Charles Augustus Young, page 246)
• Young (John Watts Young, Apollo 10/ Apollo 16 astronaut, page 343)

Z

• Zeiss (Carl Zeiss, page 263)
• Zollner (Johann Karl Friedrich Zollner, page 282)

LPOD Articles

A Perfect Collection of Lunar Books

Bibliography

• Sheehan, William P., and Thomas A. Dobbins. 2001. Epic moon: a history of lunar exploration in the age of the telescope. Richmond, Va: Willmann-Bell (publisher's page).

---