'American Eclipse' writer David Baron: 'A total eclipse for me is a spiritual experience'

Baron's book remembers when figures including Thomas Edison and astronomer Maria Mitchell converged on the Rocky Mountain region to observe the 1878 eclipse.

'American Eclipse' is by David Baron.

In the 1870s, "woman astronomer" would have sounded almost as bizarre as "space shuttle." But times were changing fast.

On a late July day in 1878, a Vassar professor of astronomy named Maria Mitchell and a contingent of female students converged on the Rocky Mountain region to observe one of nature's most extraordinary spectacles. Others from the pinnacle of American science were there too, including a young inventor who had more than an ordinary interest in light – Thomas Edison.

Science writer David Baron tells their stories in his new engaging book American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race To Catch The Shadow Of The Moon And Win The Glory Of The World.

As thousands of Americans head west to watch another total eclipse on Aug. 21, Baron talks eclipses – the one they saw, the ones he's seen, and where he'll be perched on the big day.

Q: What do eclipses mean to you?

It's hard for me to really say this, but a total eclipse for me is a spiritual experience.

I don' t consider myself spiritual, and I'm not religious in any traditional science. I was a physics major in college, and I've been a science writer since then. I don't believe there is a higher being who's ruling things.

But a total eclipse taps into a feeling like that felt by people who are religious – the grandeur of the universe, and how I am as an individual absolutely nothing. But I'm OK with that because I feel like I'm part of something enormous and grand and beautiful. It's just overpowering.

Q: Do you think people felt different about eclipses in the past when they didn't understand it as well from a scientific perspective?

In the past, there was fear. For a long time, they didn't understand it was the moon blocking the sun or even what the sun was.

You'd have your entire world turned upside down in the space of a couple minutes: The sun goes away, the sky is painted weird colors, the stars are out, and there's this beautiful shimmering wreath around the sun that you've never seen before.

There's fear involved even today. That's what awe is: this mixture of amazement and, in some sense, horror.

Q: Why were American scientists and astronomers of 1878 so eager to see the eclipse in person?

In the mid- to late 19th century, total eclipses went from being spectacles to be afraid of – and to marvel at – to being very useful to science. It was only at that time that scientists were staring to unravel the mysteries of the sun: What is the great ball of fire in the sun made of?

And there were certain studies they could only do during a solar eclipse, when the moon blocked the sun and allowed them to study the edge of the sun, the atmosphere, and corona.

The sun gives off so much energy, but where does it come from? Did it really belong to the sun? Or was it dust or meteors pouring into the sun? One theory was that maybe there's this constant rain of material from space.

Every 18 months, a total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on the planet. They figured out where they could go with a ton of equipment and pray that clouds wouldn't get in the way.

Q: How was the 1878 eclipse important in the long run?

It encouraged the public in the US to get excited about science and start thinking of ourselves as a country that could challenge Europe as a scientific power.

The other effect was to open the doors of science to women, to get the public to start looking at them as working scientists.

Q: Where will you be when the big eclipse hits?

I'll be in Jackson, Wyo., which is an easy drive from where I live in Boulder, Colo.

Jackson is one of the prettiest places in the country, and three years ago, I found a hotel willing to take us. I convinced a dozen family members to join me.

It will be an absolute zoo.

Q: Will you need those special eclipse sunglasses to protect your eyes?

For up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the total eclipse, depending on where you are in its path, you do not need eclipse glasses. That's the only time when it's safe to look at the sun with the naked eye. It's jaw-droppingly beautiful.

We plan to be on the top of one of the mountains in the Tetons at 10,000 feet. The goal is not only to look up and marvel at the eclipse but also to look west for the moon's shadow as it races for us at 2,000 miles an hour.

They described this in 1878 and called it a palpable curtain of darkness. They could see distant peaks in the sunlight pop out of sight as the shadow came over them. This is what I want to see.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'American Eclipse' writer David Baron: 'A total eclipse for me is a spiritual experience'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2017/0814/American-Eclipse-writer-David-Baron-A-total-eclipse-for-me-is-a-spiritual-experience
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe