When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Domingo Gonzalez, The Man in the Moone (2.27)
- Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, The Plurality of Worlds (2.27)
- Edgar Allan Poe, The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall (2.29)
- William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing (3.14)
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (3.14)
- Homer (11.23)
Historical References
- The Civil War (1.1)
- Robert Parker Parrot (1.3)
- John A. Dahlgren (1.3)
- Thomas Jackson Rodman (1.3)
- Sir William Armstrong (1.3)
- Sir William Palliser (1.3)
- Antoine Treuille de Beaulieu (1.3)
- Battle of Jena (1.10)
- Battle of Austerlitz (1.10)
- Battle of Gettysburg (1.10)
- General William Sherman (1.18)
- George McClellan (1.18)
- David Fabricius (2.27)
- Cyrano de Bergerac (2.27)
- John Herschel (first reference 2.27; throughout)
- "The Great Moon Hoax" (2.27)
- William Bond (4.2)
- Alvan Clarke (4.2)
- Tacitus (5.17)
- Clearchus of Sparta (5.17)
- Aristotle (5.17)
- Thales of Miletus (5.18)
- Aristarchus of Samos (5.18)
- Cleomedes (5.18)
- Hipparchus (5.18-19)
- Ptolemaeus of Commagene (5.19)
- Abul I-Wafa (5.19)
- Copernicus (5.19)
- Tycho Brahe (5.19)
- Galileo (5.20, 24.6)
- Elisabeth Hevelius (5.20)
- Giovanni Battista Riccioli (5.20)
- Frederick William Herschel (5.20; 6.6)
- Johann Hieronymus Schröter (5.20)
- Jacques Eugène d'Allonville (5.20)
- Edmond Halley (first reference 5.20; throughout)
- James Nasmyth (5.20)
- Francesco Bianchini (5.20)
- Julio Rey Pastor (5.20)
- Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann (5.20)
- Franz von Gruithuisen
- Wilhelm Wolff Beer (5.20)
- Giovanni Cassini (6.6)
- Pierre-Simon Laplace (6.15)
- Richard Mead (6.16)
- Mahomet II (a.k.a. Mehmed II) (7.55, 7.61)
- Louis XI (7.59)
- Henri Sainte-Claire Deville (7.59)
- Berthold Schwarz (9.2)
- Henri Braconnot (9.44)
- Théophile-Jules Pelouze (9.44)
- Christian Friedrich Schönbein (9.44)
- Napoleon (11.30)
- Samuel Houston (11.41)
- Juan Ponce de Leon (13.21)
- Saladin (14.9)
- John the Alchemist (14.6)
- Erasistratus (16.12)
- Johann Kaspar Lavater (18.34)
- Louis Pierre Gratiolet (18.34)
- Agathocles (18.39)
- Baron Rothschild (19.13)
- Plutarch (19.25; 22.7)
- Emanuel Swedenborg (19.25)
- Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (19.25)
- Jacques Eugène d'Allonville (20.30-31)
- Aimé Laussedat (20.36)
- Peter Andreas Hansen (20.47)
- François Arago (22.3)
- Francis Bacon (22.5)
- King Charles VI (22.5)
- Richard Mead (22.5)
- Franz Joseph Gall (22.5)
- P. T. Barnum (22.8)
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (22.18)
- Marquis de Lafayette (22.32)
- Noël Paymal Lerebours (24.6)
- Lord Rosse (24.7, 24.13)
- Leon Foucault (24.14)
- Robert Hooke (astronomer) (24.17)
- Mappa Selenographica (25.8)