{"product_id":"the-sun-in-the-church-j-l-heilbron-9780674005365","title":"The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories","description":"\u003cp\u003eBetween 1650 and 1750, four Catholic churches were the best solar observatories in the world. Built to fix an unquestionable date for Easter, they also housed instruments that threw light on the disputed geometry of the solar system, and so, within sight of the altar, subverted Church doctrine about the order of the universe. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA tale of politically canny astronomers and cardinals with a taste for mathematics, \u003ci\u003eThe Sun in the Church\u003c\/i\u003e tells how these observatories came to be, how they worked, and what they accomplished. It describes Galileo's political overreaching, his subsequent trial for heresy, and his slow and steady rehabilitation in the eyes of the Catholic Church. And it offers an enlightening perspective on astronomy, Church history, and religious architecture, as well as an analysis of measurements testing the limits of attainable accuracy, undertaken with rudimentary means and extraordinary zeal. Above all, the book illuminates the niches protected and financed by the Catholic Church in which science and mathematics thrived. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSuperbly written, \u003ci\u003eThe Sun in the Church\u003c\/i\u003e provides a magnificent corrective to long-standing oversimplified accounts of the hostility between science and religion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e J. L. Heilbron\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674005368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674005365\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/02\/2001\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.64lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.72h x 6.75w x 0.96d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2001 pg. 28","brand":"J. L. Heilbron","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44072688058623,"sku":"9780674005365","price":34.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_da7f96b2-3051-4d8c-ab46-c1a47e5e9950.jpg?v=1685443421","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-sun-in-the-church-j-l-heilbron-9780674005365","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}