Three Histories of Uranus
by Faye Cossar

Abstract:

If several people were asked to describe Uranus and what they know of the planet, many different answers would be obtained depending not only on one’s knowledge and educational background, but also depending on the group to which one belongs. An astronomer, an astrologer or the ‘thinking man in the street’ will give widely differing answers. It could be said that history depends not only on the historian’s interpretation of past facts, but also on his current group membership which show where his allegiances and interests lie. In this essay, I plan to show, using the history of Uranus, that not only is history made when events are given meaning, i.e. that we create history, but also that history has an effect on us, i.e. that history creates us. It will show how it is possible for different groups of people to have extremely different views of the same thing.

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