Beyond the Moon
400 Years of Astronomical Observation
In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, the Brown University Library presents Beyond the Moon: 400 Years of Astronomical Observation. This exhibit displays texts and images dating from the early 17th century drawn from the Library's incomparable history of science collections, historical records of the Ladd Observatory, and a range of astronomical instruments of the 18th century to the present day used for observation by Brown astronomers. Main Gallery and Lobby, John Hay Library at 20 Prospect Street in Providence; through October 2009. See John Hay Library hours for the dates and times when the exhibit is open.
For more information please see the Library website.
The Moon, Galileo Galilei, Sidereus nuncius, 1610
Credit: Lownes Science Collection, Brown University Library
...it is seen that the Moon is most evidently not at all of an even, smooth, and regular surface, as a great many people believe of it and of the other heavenly bodies, but on the contrary it is rough and unequal. In short it is shown to be such that sane reasoning cannot conclude otherwise than that it is full of prominences and cavities similar, but much larger, to the mountains and valleys spread over the Earth's surface.
Galileo Galilei, from a letter dated 7 January 1610