Dutch astronomer (born 1943)
Elisabeth (Elly) Dekker (Haarlem, 1943) is a Dutch astronomer and science historian, specialising in the history of astronomy. She studied theoretical physics and astronomy at Utrecht University.[1] In 1975 she obtained a PhD in astronomy at Leiden University with the thesis Spiral structure and the dynamics of flat stellar systems supervised by Hendrik C. van de Hulst.[2][3] From 1978-1988 she was a curator of Museum Boerhaave in Leiden and afterwards an independent scholar. From 1993-1995 she was a Sackler fellow of the Royal Museums Greenwich. In 1998 she was awarded the Caird Medal for her work on the globe collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.[4]
Publications
Dekker is the author of articles and books including:[1]
Articles
- 'Spiral structure and the dynamics of galaxies', Physics Reports 24 (1976) 315-389[5]
- 'Jacobus C. Kapteyn (1852-1922)', in Kox, A.J. and Chamalaun, M. eds: Van Stevin tot Lorentz. Portretten van Nederlandse natuurwetenschappers, Amsterdam 1980, p. 177-191. In Dutch.
- 'Early Explorations of the Southern Celestial Sky', in Annals of Science 44 (1987) pp. 439-470. [About the mapping of the southern sky by Dutch mariners at the end of the 16th century.]
- 'Frederik Kaiser en zijn pogingen tot hervorming van ‘het sterrekundig deel van onze zeevaart', Gewina / Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde, Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Techniek TGGNWT 13 (1990) 23-41. In Dutch.[6]
- 'An Unrecorded Medieval Astrolabe Quadrant, c. 1300', in Annals of Science 52 (1995), pp. 1-47.
- 'Carolingian Planetary Observations: The Case of the Leiden Planetary Configuration', Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008) 77-90
- 'A ‘Watermark’ of Eudoxan Astronomy', Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008) 213-228
- 'Caspar Vopel's Ventures in Sixteenth-Century Celestial Cartography', Imago Mundi 62:2 (2010) 161-190
- with Kristen Lippincott: The provenance of the stars in the Leiden Aratea picture book, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes eds. E.H. Gombrich et al. 73 2010 (2011), 1-37
- 'Construction and copy: aspects of the early history of celestial maps’, Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 13, Acta Historica Astronomiae, Vol. 58 (2016), pp. 47–93.
- 'The Nuremberg maps: a Pythagorean-Platonic view of the cosmos', Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 13, Acta Historica Astronomiae, 58 (2016), pp. 95–124
Books
- Spiral structure and the dynamics of flat stellar systems, PhD thesis Leiden : Rijksuniversiteit, 1975. 148 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
- with Peter van der Krogt: Globes from the Western World, London, Zwemmer, 1993[7]
- with Raf Van Laere: De verbeelde wereld. Globes, atlassen, kaarten en meetinstrumenten uit de 16de en 17de eeuw, [Antwerpen] Kredietbank 1997. In Dutch.
- Globes at Greenwich: a catalogue of the globes and armillary spheres in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Oxford University Press, 1999)[8]
- Catalogue of Orbs, Spheres and Globes, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Cataloghi di raccolte scientifiche, 5. Firenze, Giunti, 2004[9] 188 + 16 pp. of colour plates.
- Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Oxford University Press, 2013[10], 467 p.
Personal life
Dekker was married to the astronomer and physicist Hendrik Gerard (Henk) van Bueren (1925–2012).[11]
