Binary Stars, Neutrinos, and Liquid Crystals - Paul A. Heiney

This book traces the parallel paths of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, starting with their genesis in the 18th century, through the rising stature of both departments in the 20th century, and concluding with their unification in 1994. Along the way we meet David Rittenhouse, who observed the transit of Venus in 1769, Charles Doolittle, whose remarkable beard would freeze to his telescope on cold nights, Gaylord Harnwell, who transformed first the physics department and then..