Very scarce first edition of the only book by Peirce published in his lifetime. Almost all the prolific writings founder of pragmatism – considered by many to be the greatest philosopher America has produced – survived only in the form of journal articles, reviews, and uncompleted manuscripts, until his posthumous editors began to bring out his massive Collected Papers in the 1930s. Besides his famous contributions to logic, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind, Peirce did highly original work in experimental science, including the application of his new ‘photometric’ technique (using light waves to measure length) in the first attempt to determine the shape of the Milky Way from the brightness of the stars.
Photometric Researches summarizes important astronomical studies that Peirce conducted at Harvard College Observatory, while working as an Assistant in the United States Coastal and Geodetic Survey. It was published in 1878 as Volume IX of The Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College.
