Overview
- The first-ever full-length biography of the mathematician and astronomer Anders Johan Lexell (1740–1784)
- Sheds new light on the collaborators of Leonhard Euler
- Interesting study of a scientist's grand tour through enlightened Europe
Part of the book series: Vita Mathematica (VM, volume 17)
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“Stén’s biography is a sound beginning to the critical study in English of the Euler circle and the internal operation and accomplishments in the mathematical sciences of the Petersburg Imperial Academy from 1766 to beyond 1784, based on vital correspondence and using its Protocols (Minutes) and Commentaries and Acta (Journals), significant sources in the history of mathematics, the early modern mathematical sciences, and the northern Enlightenment.” (Ronald Calinger, Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol. 39, 2017)
“It is an interesting read about an exciting man in the middle of several eighteenth-century scientific networks. Using extensive source material, Stén certainly manages to show that Lexell is a man worth studying and someone who was an important part of the St. Petersburg academy of the eighteenth century. He also provides a wealth of quotations and references that will definitely be of use to historians interested in eighteenth-century astronomy and mathematics.” (Jacob Orrje, Isis, Vol. 107 (1), March, 2016)
“A Comet of the Enlightenment, authored by Johan C.-E. Stén, is the first full biography of Anders Johan Lexell (1740–1784) … Stén does a masterful job of showing us not only Lexell the person, but also how Lexell’s professional life and choices were influenced by the political and academic cultures of his day. … Readers of A Comet of the Enlightenment will learn a lot about Lexell and even more about the enlightened culture in which he lived.” (Cindia Davis Stewart, MAA Reviews, October, 2014)
“The book is much more than a biography because it includes the broad cultural surrounding. … The book includes many beautiful pictures, some of them in colours. … At the end, the author gives a list of Lexell’s publications, containing 107 entries. This biography is to be highly recommended not only to historians, but as wellto historians of astronomy and to historians of mathematics.” (Karin Reich, zbMATH, Vol. 1296, 2014)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Comet of the Enlightenment
Book Subtitle: Anders Johan Lexell's Life and Discoveries
Authors: Johan C.-E. Stén
Series Title: Vita Mathematica
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00618-5
Publisher: Birkhäuser Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-00617-8Published: 11 June 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-34532-1Published: 23 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-00618-5Published: 22 May 2014
Series ISSN: 1013-0330
Series E-ISSN: 2504-3706
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 300
Number of Illustrations: 30 b/w illustrations, 16 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences, Geometry, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology