Headlines in the Midlands
University of South Carolina, S.C. State Museum acquire major gift of historical astronomy materials
COLUMBIA, SC - September 13, 2011 - The South Carolina State Museum and the University of South Carolina have acquired a major collection of historic telescopes and astronomy books, documents and equipment.
Donated by Robert B. Ariail of Columbia, the collection comprises more than 5,200 rare books and star atlases, scientific journals, rare offprints and manuscripts, historic and modern telescopes plus binoculars, lenses and other scientific equipment related to the study of the universe and dating back nearly 500 years.
It will be called the Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy. The telescopes and scientific equipment will be housed at the museum, and the books and documents will be housed at USC’s Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library.
Above photo: Claude Siméon Passemant’s book, “Construction d'un telescope de réflexion de seize pouces de longueur” (1738), which explains the details of Passemant’s 1730 reflecting telescope, also pictured, on display in USC’s Hollings Library.
The telescope collection is considered among the best collections of American telescopes, and the book collection is the best collection of historical astronomy in the Southeastern United States, authorities say.
“Robert Ariail has put together a vintage collection of astonishing proportions, not only the finest assembly anywhere of early American telescopes, but a library to match,” said Owen Gingerich, professor of astronomy and history of science at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “With respect to popular astronomy of the 19th century, his book collection rivals, and in critical areas exceeds, the Library of Congress itself.”
Above photo: Sir Isaac Newton. Opticks: or, a treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections and colours of light. (London, 1718).
“This is a collection that was amassed over a lifetime,” said Tom Falvey, director of education and curator of science and technology for the State Museum. “It is priceless. The historic scopes, which date back to 1730, were individually made, not mass-produced. This collection could not be duplicated anywhere in the world.”
USC President Harris Pastides said the joint arrangement between the university and the museum is an excellent example of cooperation between two public entities for the public good.
“This partnership between the museum and the university is an outstanding example of what visionary leadership and collaboration can accomplish for our state,” Pastides said. “Each part of this collection has landed in its rightful place. The curators at the Hollings Library will be caring stewards of these wonderful documents and books and will ensure that they are accessible for students of history and astronomy around the world.”
Tom McNally, dean of libraries, said the collection will provide a unique understanding of the study of astronomy.
“This collection is important for teaching and research and will provide students and researchers a unique understanding of this area of study,” McNally said. “It provides a historical and artistic dimension to a scientific field and is a reminder that in every field of study, achievements are built, as Sir Isaac Newton said, “on the shoulders of giants.”
Among the items in USC’s collection is a manuscript written by William Stukeley, a contemporary and colleague of Sir Isaac Newton. In the manuscript, Stukeley expands on his conversations with Newton and provides detail on his theory of the Milky Way, which predates other scholarship on the topic by 30 years.
Above photo: This 1752 manuscript by William Stukeley, colleague of Sir Isaac Newton, describes his theory of the Milky Way, which predates scholarship on the topic by three decades.
The collection also includes the earliest printed star atlas, compiled in 1540 by Alessandro Piccolomini. Titled “De la sfera del mondo,” the atlas is also the oldest book in the Ariail collection.
Above photo: Alessandro Piccolomini’s “Sfera del mondo e Delle stelle fisse” (1540), the first printed star atlas.
“This world-class collection will attract historians, researchers, astrophysicists and other scientists, plus hobbyists, from every corner of the planet,” Falvey said. “We are honored and thrilled at this major gift, and the people of South Carolina and their visitors will be the beneficiaries.”
USC and the museum will operate a joint Web site that will spotlight the collection. The site can be accessed at www.ariail.library.sc.edu or at www.southcarolinastatemuseum.org
The books, manuscripts and documents are on display in the Irvin Department Gallery at USC’s Hollings Library Sept. 13 - Oct 31. The exhibit is titled “Mapping the Heavens: An Exhibition Introducing the Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy.”
Many of the scopes are on display in the museum’s fourth-floor Palmetto Gallery and will be joined by the remainder of the telescope collection in a large, designated space being planned by the museum.
The Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy
Noteworthy items at the University of South Carolina include:
■ Alessandro Piccolomini’s “Sfera del mondo e Delle stelle fisse” (1540), the first printed star atlas.
■ Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria,” (1603), the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere. The positions of the stars used by Bayer were based on the star catalogues of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
■ Christian Huygens’ book, “The Celestial Worlds Discovered” (1698), in which the Dutch mathematician and astronomer discussed his belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.
■ Sir Isaac Newton’s book, “Opticks” (1718), in which Newton first showed a prism as a beam expander and multiple prism arrays, important concepts in the further development of the modern telescope.
■ A manuscript by William Stukeley, antiquary, natural philosopher and colleague of Sir Isaac Newton in 1752. In the manuscript, Stukeley recalls his conversation with Newton about the Milky Way ca. 1718. Stukeley gives the fullest version of several iterations of his theory of the Milky Way, which predates the scholarship of Immanuel Kant and Johanan Heinrich Lambert by three decades.
■ Claude Siméon Passemant’s book, “Construction d'un telescope de réflexion de seize pouces de longueur” (1738), which explains the details of Passemant’s reflecting telescope and serves as a companion to a 1730 telescope from the Ariail collection.
■ A rare copy of “A Compendious System of Astronomy”(1797) by Margaret Bryan, an educator and natural philosopher who wrote a number of standard textbooks.
■ More than 20 titles by Richard Proctor, who produced one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867.
■ John Flamsteed, “Atlas Coelestis” (1753). Published after Flamsteed’s death, this was the largest atlas published up to that time and included corrections to Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria” (1603).
■ Twenty works by William Herschel, late 18th-century composer, mathematician, and astronomer, whose observations included work on double stars and the discovery of Uranus. The collection also contains works by his sister, Carolina Herschel, and his son, John Herschel, a mathematician, astronomer and inventor who influenced Charles Darwin.
Noteworthy items at the S.C. State Museum Collection Include:
■ 11 Alvan Clark telescopes (no other public institution has this many).
■ 24 American instruments by the greatest names, including an extremely rare Henry Fitz, America’s first commercially successful maker.
Robert Ariail
For Robert Ariail, seeing stars has been a good thing. Born and raised in Sumter, he became intrigued by astronomy when his third-grade teacher introduced his class to the subject. He chose the topic for his class project and used William Tyler Alcott’s “Field Book of the Skies” as a source. It was a book that he checked out of the library many times until he could afford his own copy. That book is the cornerstone of his world-class astronomy collection, which he has donated to the University of South Carolina Libraries.
Ariail pursued his fascination with astronomy and, by the time he enrolled at the University of South Carolina, he had become an amateur astronomer. Nevertheless, he still signed up for USC’s only astronomy course. After earning a degree in English in 1956, he entered the military. He bought his first serious telescope while stationed in Fairbanks, AK. “You see what that telescope can show you; then you want a bigger telescope,” he said.
After the service, he worked for American Insurance Group in North Carolina and later in South Carolina. He returned to Columbia in 1964 and joined the American Association of Variable Star Observers, becoming an independent observational astronomer and sharing data on variable stars with researchers throughout the United States.
Ariail began collecting in 1954 when he came across several astronomy books in a Newberry bookstore. Bitten by the collecting bug, he began searching for books throughout the United States and expanded his interests to include rare antiquarian titles. His first acquisition of a rare astronomical work was Flamsteed’s “Atlas Coelestis” (1753) after talking a California astronomer out of it. Ariail said he is particularly proud of Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria” (1603), and Alessandro Piccolomini’s “De la sfera del mondo” (1540).
His collecting led him to acquire a brass telescope with a 3-inch objective lens and a focal length of 44 inches. Realizing that the telescope was as fine a scientific instrument as it was beautifully crafted, he began to collect and restore telescopes, including one made by Henry Fitz, one of America’s first makers of telescopes.
Just as he was awakened to astronomy as a youth, Ariail has introduced young people throughout the Midlands to observational astronomy.
He also has traveled widely and observed solar eclipses throughout the world.
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