A10 | 049 Science and Empire Turns 30: Peoples, Places, Exchanges, and Circulation
Tracks
Archway - Theatre 4
| Monday, June 30, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM |
| Archway, Theatre 4 |
Overview
Symposium talk
Lead presenting author(s)
Dr. Deborah Kent
Senior Lecturer in History of Mathematics
University of St Andrews
Personal connections transcend empires: 1899 British eclipse expeditions to French Guiana, Angola, and Trinidad
Abstract - Symposia paper
The year 1889 saw both the first eclipse expeditions executed by the Permanent
Eclipse Committee of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) as well as likely the first
all-female British eclipse expedition. From under-recognition of local support to
misrepresentation of observation results from the female astronomers, these three British expeditions reveal that a great deal of practical and technical support given to RAS expeditioners was often absent from their official reports. Specifically, this talk will look at the under-recognition of astronomers Elizabeth Brown and previously anonymised Martha Louisa Jefferys in their expedition to Trinidad, the prison-labour assistance provided to RAS astronomers Rev. Joseph Perry and John Rooney in French Guiana, and the interaction (or notable lack thereof) between locals and
visiting expeditioners in the visit of RAS astronomer Albert Taylor to Kisama, a region of (present-day) Angola which was outside of de facto Portuguese control at the time.
Eclipse Committee of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) as well as likely the first
all-female British eclipse expedition. From under-recognition of local support to
misrepresentation of observation results from the female astronomers, these three British expeditions reveal that a great deal of practical and technical support given to RAS expeditioners was often absent from their official reports. Specifically, this talk will look at the under-recognition of astronomers Elizabeth Brown and previously anonymised Martha Louisa Jefferys in their expedition to Trinidad, the prison-labour assistance provided to RAS astronomers Rev. Joseph Perry and John Rooney in French Guiana, and the interaction (or notable lack thereof) between locals and
visiting expeditioners in the visit of RAS astronomer Albert Taylor to Kisama, a region of (present-day) Angola which was outside of de facto Portuguese control at the time.
Dr Hugo Soares
Research Fellow
CIUHCT - Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology
The 1919 total solar eclipse and the British expedition to Príncipe. Astronomy, regimes of labor and empires in conflict
Abstract - Symposia paper
The expedition headed by Arthur Stanley Eddington, and joined by clockwork mechanism expert Edwin T. Cottingham, observed the 1919 total solar eclipse in the small island of Príncipe on the Gulf of Guinea belonging to the Portuguese empire in Africa. Despite its smallness, Príncipe was among the more important international cocoa suppliers, Cadburys being one of its main buyers. A few years before the expedition, a controversy over “slave cocoa” had opposed the British to the Portuguese empire concerning the practice of forced labor in Príncipe’s cocoa plantations, with contrasting political reverberations for both. In this paper we de-construct the connections between the astronomers’ work and the regimes of labor in place, as well the meanings of forced/slave labor in the two imperial settings in conflict.
Dr Toner Stevenson
History Affiliate
The University of Sydney
The 1922 total solar eclipse in Australia: how expeditions contended with the forces of nature and the scientific, political and logistical alliances of Empire
Abstract - Symposia paper
Supported by the Donovan Astronomical Trust
In the spirit of optimism total solar eclipse expeditions from around the globe set out for Australia in 1922 to prove Einstein’s Theory of general relativity without doubt. The Lick Observatory expedition from North America was supported by the Commonwealth of Australia in many ways. The British Empire astronomers and those from North America had priority and were serviced by the Royal Australian Navy. By comparison many of the local astronomers had mediocre financial, technical and government support, yet without their knowledge and the support from First Nations Peoples the final triumph of proof may not have happened. We will see how the politics of Empire were an advantage, and at times barriers, but on the ground it was the searing heat, shark infested waters, equipment overboard, flies, lack of water, sinking sands and dust storms that posed the greatest threats.
In the spirit of optimism total solar eclipse expeditions from around the globe set out for Australia in 1922 to prove Einstein’s Theory of general relativity without doubt. The Lick Observatory expedition from North America was supported by the Commonwealth of Australia in many ways. The British Empire astronomers and those from North America had priority and were serviced by the Royal Australian Navy. By comparison many of the local astronomers had mediocre financial, technical and government support, yet without their knowledge and the support from First Nations Peoples the final triumph of proof may not have happened. We will see how the politics of Empire were an advantage, and at times barriers, but on the ground it was the searing heat, shark infested waters, equipment overboard, flies, lack of water, sinking sands and dust storms that posed the greatest threats.
