Lunatick Astronomy: The Astronomical Interests of the Lunar Society of Birmingham - Softcover

It is a really supurb study and opens up a whole area of the Lunar Society which people don't generally think of..a very significant contribution to our knowledge of 18th century Midlands astronomy. --Dr. Allan Chapman University of Oxford

Excellent..this contains much I did not know. --Dr. Allan Chapman

Excellent..this contains much I did not know. --Sir Patrick Moore

The Lunar Society was one of the most influential gatherings of intellectuals in the eighteenth century. The group of friends met informally every month on a Monday evening closest to the full Moon. It is this singular astronomical connection from which the group of friends developed their collective noun although they often referred to themselves as the Lunaticks . Matthew Boulton was the prime mover behind the moonlit gathering and most people today know him as the great manufacturer of Birmingham and the partner of James Watt. His friend and fellow Lunatick James Keir once observed that electricity and astronomy were at one time among Matthew Boulton s favourite amusements. The question for the author with an interest in astronomy living only a few miles from Boulton s home was just how much of an interest in astronomy did Boulton and the other Lunar Society members have? The book is an account of Andrew Lound s research into Matthew Boulton s and his friends interests in astronomy discovering Matthew Boulton s design for an astronomical observatory as well as snippets of information on one of his favourite amusements. The write-up of the research has been produced on the urging of several experts in astronomy history and Professor Carl Chinn of the University of Birmingham, in order to assist those with an interest in the Lunar Society and to give wider public awareness of Matthew Boulton s astronomical interests. This publication contains additional material that is aimed at a wider audience, placing together for the first time a complete ready reference to the Lunar Society s astronomical interests.