Lecture | Global Histories of Knowledge Seminar

A Colonial and Material History of Astrophotography at Leiden Observatory, 1918-1960

• Chaokang Tai (University of Amsterdam)

Date

Friday 22 May 2026

Time

15:30 - 17:00 hour

Serie

Global Histories of Knowledge 2025 - 2026

Address

Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden

Room

0.04

Six photographic plates of a portion of the southern sky, taken at Union Observatory, Johannesburg, with red markings on them, which indicate where new minor planets can be found.

Abstract

Tucked away in the basement of the Oort Building in Leiden, there are close to 40,000 photographic plates, which were used for astronomical research. Almost half of them were originally taken in Johannesburg and shipped to Leiden for measurement. In my presentation, I will provide a colonial and material history of astrophotography as it was performed at Leiden Observatory. The first part of my presentation will focus on the how the collaboration between Johannesburg and Leiden was established. This will be discussed within the colonial context of South Africa and the Netherlands Indies. I will explain why the national observatory of a newly founded dominion thought it beneficial to collaborate with a foreign institution; and conversely why the founders of a new observatory in colonial Netherlands Indies wanted to ensure that this observatory would become an independent institution. In the second part of my presentation, Iwill discuss what was done with the photographic plates after they arrived in Leiden. I will explain how they were measured and with what instruments, how these measurements were subsequently turned into scientific data and information, and , crucially, who performed all this labour.

Speaker

Chaokang Tai is Lecturer in Academic Skills and Philosophy of Science at the University of Amsterdam. He studied History and Philosophy of Science at Utrecht University, before doing a PhD at the University of Amsterdam on the connections between the scientific research and political philosophy of Marxist astronomer Anton Pannekoek. In 2021, he started a postdoc at the University of Regensburg, which focused on the material history of astrophotography was it was performed at Leiden Observatory.

• kolonialisme en slavernij