One of my earliest experiences of studying drama included the play Gallileo by Brecht, which included the account of how sunspots were discovered by the scientist. Professor Lucie Green’s 15 Million Degrees: A Journey to the Centre of the Sun helps unpack not only these kinds of myths, but reveals a great deal of the realities of this important planetary body.

The influences of coronal mass ejections, the story of Annie Jump Cannon, recruited by Harvard in the 19th century as a computer was all news to me, and also about American physicist Robert Leighton on the magnetic field of the sun — how if it “had no magnetic field, it would be as uninteresting as most astronomers think it is.” While many of us might only consider the power of the sun when it comes to checking out eclipses, 15 Million Degrees demonstrates not only the influence on science, but the philosophy and environmental impact of the sun.

With great visual elements (including a very funny littering fine that NASA got for SKYLAB!) and the obvious passion that Professor Green has for the topic, this is a very engaging read, and one that took me a few rereads after learning just how little I knew about the subject. 15 Million Degrees: A Journey to the Centre of the Sun is a great introduction to a topic that is familiar to us all but still has such a lot for us to learn about.

Further Resources:

15 Million Degrees, A Journey to the Centre of the Sun by Lucie Green