Abstract
On June 8, 2004, a transit of Venus — providentially timed to coincide with the conference “Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust” — occurred. It was the first one witnessed during the lifetimes of any of the participants. The last had taken place on December 6, 1882, when Queen Victoria still sat on the throne of Great Britain, the battle of Majuba had just been fought, and the gold reefs of Witwatersrand still lay undiscovered.
Editorial Note: Dr W Sheehan, a psychiatrist by profession, is the author of ‘The Immortal Fire Within. The life and work of Edward Emerson Barnard’ and (with John Westfall) ‘The Transits of Venus’. amongst others. He also is a regular consultant to ‘Sky and Telescope’.
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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Sheehan, W. (2004). The Noblest Scientific Problem of the Age: Perspectives on the Transits of Venus, 1882 and 2004. In: Block, D.L., Puerari, I., Freeman, K.C., Groess, R., Block, E.K. (eds) Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 319. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2862-5_84
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2862-5_84
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