• An important manuscript in the History of Science Collection is Johannes Hevelius’ fixed star catalog (Vault Collection 091 H489), which was acquired by the Harold B. Lee Library as its one millionth volume in the 1970’s as represented in the picture above. Hevelius (1611-1687), a Polish astronomer, compiled this manuscript catalog of his stellar observations between 1660-81. The digitized manuscript can be found online at the Internet Archive.
• Joseph Delambre (1749-1822) was a French astronomer and mathematician who helped develop the metric system and wrote one of the first major histories of astronomy. His letters to Mme. de Piery can be found here.

The following sites provide background about and access to some of the major subjects covered in the History of Science Collection. You will find extensive information about these topics, with images of rare books from the History of Science Collection and other print and online resources to help you further explore the subject.

• Renaissance Astronomy

• A Brief History of Natural History 

Resources include databases and secondary sources. Note: Some resources may require a BYU NetID for login.

Athanasius Kircher Correspondence Project (Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence, Italy)

The Galileo Project (Rice University)

The Chymistry of Isaac Newton (Indiana University)

The Newton Project (University of Oxford)

The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science