The Hotel that Became an Observatory

Mount Faulhorn as Singularity, Microcosm, and Macro-Tool

Bibliographic Data

ID4515968
AuthorsDavid Aubin (0000-0002-5903-3283, Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume22
Issue3
Pages365-386
Publication date2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889709990056
OpenAlexW2162883188
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited21

ArgumentOne of the first high-altitude observatories was a hotel. Established in 1823, the chalet on Mount Faulhorn became a highpoint of nineteenth-century science. In this paper, I take this mountain as my entry point into the examination of the special attraction that mountains exerted on scientists. I argue that Mount Faulhorn stood for three different conceptions of the usefulness of the mountain in science: (1) in observation networks, stations were usually chosen for pragmatic rather than scientific reasons, but mountains representedsingularspots in such networks, which deserved special attention; (2) the mountain also was amicrocosmwhere altitude differences were thought to capture essential features of latitude differences; (3) the mountain was sometimes no more than amacro-toolfor the pursuit of science, just a middle ground between the heaven and the earth

Archaeology · Geography · Heaven · Macro · Microcosm · Mount · Physical geography · Computer Science · History · History of Science and Medicine · History of Science and Natural History · Mathematics · Species Distribution and Climate Change · Geology · Paleontology

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