The Venus Hunters

The transit of Venus is one of the rarest astronomical events we can predict and motivated one of the most fundamental developments of the 18th century. In 1761 and 1769, scientists, monarchs, and men from different regions mobilized to witness the planet's passage across the Sun, making this initiative the first global scientific collaboration. Based on extensive research into documents and images, Andrea Wulf shows how hundreds of astronomers, immersed in the spirit of the Enlightenment, crossed seas and faced all manner of adversities in the name of science.