Spin off: The Surprising History of the Coriolis Effect and the Jesuits Who Investigated It

This paper discusses six astronomers of the Society of Jesus who investigated the Coriolis Effect: the deflection of objects moving at Earth's surface that is caused by Earth's rotation. The paper includes introductory material on what the Coriolis Effect is and how it works, especially as...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Graney, Christopher M. 1966- (Author) ; Consolmagno, Guy 1952- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The Catholic University of America Press 2023
In: The catholic historical review
Year: 2023, Volume: 109, Issue: 2, Pages: 302-320
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Jesuits / Coriolis force / Earth (Planet) / History 1600-1912
IxTheo Classification:CF Christianity and Science
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KCA Monasticism; religious orders
KDB Roman Catholic Church
Further subjects:B Francesco Maria Grimaldi
B Christoph Scheiner
B Claude François Milliet Dechales
B the motion of the Earth
B Angelo Secchi
B Coriolis Effect
B Johann Georg Hagen
B Giovanni Battista Riccioli
B Jesuit astronomers
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Summary:This paper discusses six astronomers of the Society of Jesus who investigated the Coriolis Effect: the deflection of objects moving at Earth's surface that is caused by Earth's rotation. The paper includes introductory material on what the Coriolis Effect is and how it works, especially as regards the atmosphere of Earth and other planets. Four of the six Jesuits—Christoph Scheiner, Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Francesco Maria Grimaldi, and Claude François Milliet Dechales—worked in the seventeenth century. They envisioned the effect occurring if Earth rotated; they believed that no such effect actually occurred; and thus they investigated the effect as an argument against Earth's motion. The fifth, Angelo Secchi, experimented with the Foucault pendulum, the first clear demonstration of this effect. The sixth, Johann Georg Hagen, the first Jesuit Director of the Vatican Observatory, worked in the early twentieth century. He developed experimental tests for the effect. This paper provides a synopsis of information that recently has been published in books and journals related to physics and the history of astronomy regarding Jesuits and the Coriolis Effect.
ISSN:1534-0708
Contains:Enthalten in: The catholic historical review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/cat.2023.a899373