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Publications

2005
Schechner, Sara J. “Astronomy behind Enemy Lines in Colonial North America: John Winthrop’s Observations of the Transits of Venus.” Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 37, no. 4 (2005): 1241. Abstract at SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schechner, Sara J. “Museum Education and Instruction on the History and Nature of Science.” In Partners in Innovation: Science Education and the Science Workforce, 78-94. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Press, 2005.
Schechner, Sara J. “Between Knowing and Doing: Mirrors and Their Imperfections in the Renaissance.” Early Science and Medicine 10 (2005): 137-162.
2004
Transits of Venus
Schechner, Sara J, Stephen Johnston, and Steven Turner. “Transits of Venus,” 2004. Transits of Venus websiteAbstract
Transits of Venus is a global collaboration of institutions holding historical scientific instruments, images, and documents used on Transit of Venus expeditions in the 18th and 19th centuries, creating a database of instruments, observing stations, events, people, and institutions. The site was developed by Stephen Johnston, Sara J. Schechner, and Steven Turner, 2003-2004. Additions to the site's database are ongoing.
Schechner, Sara J. “Against the Hockney-Falco thesis: Glass and metal mirrors of the 15th century could not project undistorted images.” In Technical Digest: Frontiers in Optics 2004. Vol. 88th OSA Annual Meeting. Washington, DC: Optical Society of America, 2004.
Schechner, Sara J. “Harvard's Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and Its Astronomical Treasures.” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 7 (2004): 59-60.
2003
Schechner, Sara J. “Comets: Sublunary or Celestial? Review of The Age of Two-Faced Janus: The Comets of 1577 and 1618 and the Decline of the Aristotelian World View in the Netherlands, by Tabitta van Nouhuys.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 34 (2003): 118-119. Read at SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2002
Schechner, Sara J. “Ancient Cosmologies.” In Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe, 12-29. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2002.
2001
Schechner, Sara J. “Sciences in America: Colonial Period to 1789.” In The History of Science in the United States: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2001.
Schechner, Sara J. “Boston Philosophical Society (1683).” In The History of Science in the United States: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2001.
Schechner, Sara J. “Almanacs.” In The History of Science in the United States: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2001.
Schechner, Sara J. “A Phoenix of Human Nature.” UNESCO Courier, 2001, 54, 5, 16.
Schechner, Sara J. “The Time of Day: Marking the Sun’s Passing.” In The Discovery of Time, 120-139. London: MQ Publications, 2001.
Schechner, Sara J. “The Material Culture of Astronomy in Daily Life: Sundials, Science, and Social Change.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 32 (2001): 189-222. Read at SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2000
Schechner, Sara J. “Too Little Dirty Linen. Essay review of Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, by Dava Sobel.” The World & I 15 (2000): 262-267.
Schechner, Sara J. “The Many Facets of Halley: Review of Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and Seas, by Alan Cook.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 31, no. 2 (2000): 73-74. Read at SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schechner, Sara J. “Comets and Meteors.” In The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2000.
Schechner, Sara J. “Art in the St. Petersburg Observatory: Putti with Scientific Instruments.” Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 64 (2000): 2 (cover story).
1999
Schechner, Sara J. “Time Well Spent: Early Modern Sundials as Evidence of Time Pressures and Consumer Culture.” XVIII International Scientific Instrument Symposium: Abstracts and Materials. Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999.
Schechner, Sara J. “West, Benjamin.” In American National Biography. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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