Essays on Astronomical History and Heritage: A Tribute to Wayne Orchiston on His 80th Birthday

This multidisciplinary work celebrates Wayne Orchiston’s career and accomplishments in historical and cultural astronomy on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Over thirty of the world’s leading scholars in astronomy, astrophysics, astronomical history, and cultural astronomy have come together to honor Wayne across a wide range of research topics.
These themes include:

• Astronomy and Society
• Emergence of Astrophysics
History of Radio Astronomy
• Solar System
• Observatories and Instrumentation
• Ethnoastronomy and Archeoastronomy

This exceptional collection of essays presents an overview of Wayne’s prolific contributions to the field, along with detailed accounts of the book’s diverse themes. It is a valuable and insightful volume for both researchers and others interested in the fields of historical astronomy and cultural astronomy.

Steven Gullberg holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from James Cook University (Australia) and is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma (USA), where he is Lead Faculty for the School of Integrative and Cultural Studies. He is the University’s Director for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, and he also serves as Chair of the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture. He has conducted extensive field research on the astronomy of the Incas in the Peruvian Andes and has written many research papers. He also is the author of Astronomy of the Inca Empire: Use and Significance of the Sun and the Night Sky. At the University of Oklahoma, he led the development of an archaeoastronomy distance-learning program designed to educate researchers around the world. Dr. Gullberg regularly presents papers at international conferences as he endeavors to globally advance the field of archaeoastronomy.
Peter Robertson holds a PhD in the history of astronomy from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) and is currently an honorary research fellow in the Astrophysics Group at the University of Melbourne. Peter spent most of his career in science publishing, including over twenty years as the Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of Physics, published jointly by CSIRO and the Australian Academy of Science. Since his retirement in 2009, he has spent much of his time researching the development of radio astronomy in Australia. He is the author of three books: Beyond Southern Skies: Radio Astronomy and the Parkes Telescope (Cambridge University Press, 1992); Radio Astronomer: John Bolton and a New Window on the Universe (NewSouth Books, 2017); and Golden Years of Australian Radio Astronomy: An Illustrated History (Springer, in press). Peter is currently an Associate Editor of Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage.