<DIV>“With this highly readable and cosmically accessible book, Alan Hirshfeld has done for the measurement of the cosmos what Dava Sobel did for the measurement of longitude. . . . Readers will never again look into the night sky the same way.” —<b>MICHAEL SHERMER</b>, author of <i>The Believing Brain</i> on <i>Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos</i><br><br>In 1930, Edwin Hubble announced the greatest discovery in the history of astronomy since Galileo first turned a telescope to the heavens. The galaxies, previously believed to float serenely in the void, are in fact hurtling apart at incredible speed; the universe is expanding. This stunning discovery was the culmination of a decades-long arc of scientific and technical advancement. In its shadow lies an untold, yet equally fascinating, backstory whose cast of characters illuminates the gritty, hard-won nature of scientific progress.<br><br>The path to a broader mode of cosmic observation was blazed by a cadre of 19th-century amateur astronomers and inventors, galvanized by the advent of photography, spectral analysis, and innovative technology to create the entirely new field of astrophysics. From William Bond, who turned his home into a functional observatory, to geniuses of invention such as Léon Foucault, Hirshfeld reveals the incredible stories—and the ambitious dreamers—behind the birth of modern astronomy.<br><br><b>Alan Hirshfeld</b>, Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory, is the author of <i>Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday,</i> and <i>Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes.</i><br></DIV>