4 Oct. 2019 — 12:00 noon — WAG 316
Bruce J. Hunt (UT)
“To Tycho’s Island: Reflections of a History of Science Tourist”
Tycho Brahe was one of the great figures of early modern science, and Uraniborg, the “castle-observatory” he built on the Danish island of Hven, was the leading center of European astronomy in the 1580s and 1590s. What remains of Tycho’s observatory today, and how is the “Lord of Uraniborg” commemorated on the island he once ruled? What can a visit to Hven and its Tycho Brahe Museum tell us not just about Tycho and his work, but about what we might call “history of science tourism” more generally?
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Bruce Hunt has taught courses in the history of science and technology in the UT History Department for many years. Most of his research focuses on telegraphy and electrical physics in 19th century Britain, but he also has a strong interest in early modern science and an avocational interest in visiting places that figure in the history of science and technology.