Historians of science have amply demonstrated the transnational character of science; however, they have not sufficiently attended to how several scientific projects were coordinated as part of global initiatives. Our research – based on the unpublished, written correspondence between Christian Ludwig Gerling in Germany and James M. Gilliss in the United States, from 1847 to 1856 – examines the issues that were being discussed in the search for an observation point in Chile that could be linked to the various astronomical research projects happening in the global north. This article shows that the building of this network had to navigate communicational and language barriers, financial uncertainty, lack of adequate scientific instruments, and the influence of intermediaries. In fact, the intermediaries involved affected the formulation of questions and objectives, as well as the choice of methods and instruments to be used (such as Alexander von Humboldt and Friedrich Gauss), and directly impacted on how these things were brought to bear (for example, instrument manufacturers, diplomats, and translators).

中文翻译：

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在全球南方寻找观察点：CL Gerling 和 JM Gilliss 的通信（1847-1856）

科学史家充分展示了科学的跨国性；然而，他们没有充分关注作为全球倡议的一部分如何协调几个科学项目。我们的研究——基于 1847 年至 1856 年德国的 Christian Ludwig Gerling 和美国的 James M. Gilliss 之间未发表的书面信件——考察了在智利寻找观察点时正在讨论的问题与发生在全球北部的各种天文研究项目有关。本文表明，该网络的构建必须克服沟通和语言障碍、财务不确定性、缺乏足够的科学工具以及中介的影响。实际上，