BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:A stone to be seen: Kwanlin Dün and the 1869 US total solar eclip
 se expedition - Deborah Kent (University of St Andrews)
DTSTART:20250124T143000Z
DTEND:20250124T153000Z
UID:TALK220561@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:Many mid-nineteenth-century mathematical practitioners in the 
 United States found employment in the US Coast Survey\, the US Naval Obser
 vatory\, and the US Nautical Almanac Office. These governmental institutio
 ns often connected mathematical work to political projects like the annexa
 tion of territories and the expansion of telegraphs and railroads. They al
 so deployed observers in quest of scientific glory during solar eclipses a
 cross North America in 1854\, 1860\, and 1869. After moderate success duri
 ng the 1854 annular eclipse\, US observers met with sweeping disappointmen
 t in the 1860 path of eclipse totality. Determined to have better outcomes
  in 1869\, the US Coast Survey began planning a route to totality in 1867\
 , shortly after the Transfer of Alaska. The ultimate success of their vent
 ure depended on indigenous knowledge which has subsequently been supressed
  in narratives of 19th-century US governmental science. Framed by recent w
 ork on American imperialism\, this talk will focus on the 1869 total solar
  eclipse expedition and its interrelatedness with indigenous people and ge
 opolitics.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR