《古舟子咏》与金星凌日

The Ancient Mariner and the transit of Venus.

作者信息

Griffin-Short Rita

机构信息

907-981 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 1A8.

出版信息

Endeavour. 2003 Dec;27(4):175-9. doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2003.10.002.

DOI:10.1016/j.endeavour.2003.10.002

PMID:14652042

Abstract

The achievements of William Wales FRS - astronomer, classical scholar, demographer, editor, mathematician, meteorologist and humane teacher - have been overshadowed by the fame of Cook's extraordinary voyages, and overlooked as a significant influence on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's early development. The Royal Society sent Wales to Hudson Bay, Canada, and James Cook to Tahiti, both to observe the 1769 transit of Venus as part of an international project to calculate solar parallax, and hence the distance to the Sun. Wales later taught mathematics and navigation science at Christ's Hospital School to a precocious Coleridge, whose creative mind translated tales of polar adventures into memorable poetry.

摘要

皇家学会会员威廉·威尔士的成就——他是天文学家、古典学者、人口统计学家、编辑、数学家、气象学家和人文教师——在库克非凡航行的盛名之下黯然失色，并且作为对塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治早期发展的重大影响而被忽视。皇家学会派威尔士前往加拿大哈德逊湾，派詹姆斯·库克前往塔希提岛，两人都是为了观测1769年的金星凌日，这是一个计算太阳视差从而得出太阳距离的国际项目的一部分。威尔士后来在基督医院学校教数学和航海科学，学生中有早熟的柯勒律治，其富有创造力的头脑将极地冒险故事转化为令人难忘的诗歌。