Dr Wayne Orchiston

Teaching

• AS5051 – Scientific and Technological Developments in Astronomy

• AS5042 – Pilot Research Project (History of Astronomy)

(These subjects form part of the internet-based Master of Astronomy degree, allowing students to major in history of astronomy rather than astrophysics.)

• Supervising off-campus Ph.D. and Doctor of Astronomy students in the history of astronomy area.

Research

My main research interests relate to Cook voyage, Australian, French and New Zealand astronomical history, with emphasis on the history of radio astronomy, comets, historically-significant telescopes, early astronomical groups and societies, and transits of Venus.

Selected Publications

Full list of publications

Dick, S.J., Orchiston, W., and Love, T., 1998. Simon Newcomb, William Harkness and the nineteenth century American transit of Venus expeditions. Journal for the History of Astronomy, 29, 221-255.

Orchiston, W., 2000. A Polynesian astronomical perspective: the Maori of New Zealand. In Selin, H. (ed.). Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy. Dordrecht, Kluwer. Pp. 161-196.

Orchiston, W., 2002. Tebbutt vs Russell: passion, power and politics in nineteenth century Australian astronomy. In Ansari, S.M.R. (ed.). History of Oriental Astronomy. Dordrecht, Kluwer (IAU Joint Discussion 17). Pp. 169-201.

Orchiston, W., 2004a. From the solar corona to clusters of galaxies: the radio astronomy of Bruce Slee. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 21, 23-71.

Orchiston, W., 2004db. The nineteenth century transits of Venus: an Australian and New Zealand overview. Journal of Astronomical Data, 10, 219-308.

Orchiston, W., 2005a. James Cook’s 1769 transit of Venus expedition to Tahiti. In Kurtz, D.W. (ed.). Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and Galaxy. Cambridge, CUP. Pp. 52-66.

Orchiston, W., (ed.), 2005b. The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding our View of Planet Earth. Dordrecht, Springer. Pp. xvi+328.

Orchiston, W., and Orchiston, W., 2005. The Radiophysics field stations and the early development of radio astronomy. In Orchiston, W. (ed.). The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding our View of Planet Earth. New York, Springer. Pp. 119-168.

Orchiston, W., Slee, B., and Burman, R., 2006. The genesis of solar radio astronomy in Australia. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 9, 35-56.

Orchiston, W., Lequeux, J., Steinberg, J-L., and Delannoy, J., 2007. Highlighting the history of French radio astronomy. 3: The Würzburg antennas at Marcoussis, Meudon and Nançay. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 10, 221-245.