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Biennial History of Astronomy Workshops
University of Notre Dame
various astronomy-related historical images

Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop - ND VII July 7-10, 2005

Program

All sessions, except the poster session, take place in the Auditorium of the Center for Continuing Education.

Thursday, July 7 Workshop Opens
8:00 - 9:00 pm Public Talk by Invited Speaker, Notre Dame Center for Continuing Education
Clive Ruggles (University of Leicester), “Astronomy at the Meeting of Two Worlds?”
9:15 - 10:15 pm Welcoming Reception
Friday, July 8 Sessions begin
8:00 - 8:30 am Greetings and Introduction of Participants
Co-chairs of the Workshop: Marv Bolt (Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum), David DeVorkin (Smithsonian), Matt Dowd (University of Notre Dame Press)
  • Introduction of Participants
  Poster Papers available for viewing throughout the workshop:
  • Durruty Jesús de Alba Martínez (University of Guadalajara): “Calling to Mars? Ideas on Extraterrestrial Communication by a Catholic Priest and Astronomer in the Early Twentieth Century”
  • Peter Henry Cheasley (Independent Scholar): “Is There Music in Space?--Yes”
  • Dennis Duke (Florida State University): “Computer Animations of Ancient Planetary Models”
  • Gerald S. Hawkins and Vance R. Tiede: “Stonehenge Computer Confirmed”
  • James Marshall (Independent Scholar): “Fort Ancient State Memorial Walls Tested for Archaeoastronomical Azimuths”
8:30 - 9:30 am Historical Studies on Astronomy, Cultural Astronomy
Chair: Craig B. Waff (Air Force Research Laboratory)
  • Stephen McCluskey (West Virginia University): “Church Orientations and Astronomical Principles: Indigenous, Greek, or Roman?”
  • Christopher Turner (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale): “Wovoka's Vision: Total Solar Eclipse Iconography as Found in Plains Indian Ghost Dance Imagery”
9:30 - 10:30 am Break, Group Photograph (weather permitting), and Poster Viewing
10:30 - 11:30 am Teaching about the Extraterrestrial Life Debate
Organizer: Michael J. Crowe (University of Notre Dame), Chair: Matt Dowd
  • Michael J. Crowe: “Teaching Extraterrestrials at the University of Notre Dame”
  • Peter J. Ramberg (Truman State University): “Teaching the Plurality of Worlds Debate in an Interdisciplinary Context at Truman State University”
  • Commentator: Steven J. Dick (NASA)
11:30 - 12:30 pm Lunch
12:30 - 2:30 pm Calendars and Years, Part 1
Organizers: John Steele (University of Durham) and Henry Zee (Caeno Foundation)
  • Lis Brack-Bernsen (Regensburg University): “The 360 Day Year in Mesopotamia”
  • Wayne Horowitz (Hebrew University): “The Astrolabes: Astronomy, Theology, and Chronology”
  • John Britton (Independent Scholar): “Calendars and Year-lengths in Mesopotamian Astronomical Practice”
  • John Steele (University of Durham): “The Length of the Month in Babylonia during the Late Babylonian Period”
2:30 - 3:00 pm Break and Poster Viewing
3:00 - 4:30 pm Calendars and Years, Part 2
  • Leo Depuydt (Brown University): “The Calendar Year in Ancient Egypt”
  • Sarah Symons (University of Leicester): “A Star's Year: The Annual Cycle in the Ancient Egyptian Sky”
  • Uwe Glessmer (University of Hamburg): “Knowledge of Calendars through the Library of Qumran”
4:30 - 4:45 pm Break
4:45 - 6:15 pm Historical Studies on Astronomy, Premodern
Chair: Teasel Muir-Harmony (Smithsonian)
  • Bill Brewer (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): “Similarities between Young Children's Initial Cosmological Theories and Early Cosmological Theories in Greece and China”
  • Stamatina Mastorakou (Imperial College, London): “Ancient Popular Astronomy, Third Century B.C. to First Century A.D.: Aratus's Phaenomena”
  • Giora Hon and Yaakov Zik (University of Haifa): “Science and Instruments: Theory and Practice of Early Telescopic Observations”
6:15 pm Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
This optional session is especially for those who have contributed to or are interested in the forthcoming Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. A brief update on the status of the project will be made, and editors of the volume will be present to answer questions.
8:00 - 10:00 pm Gathering at the home of Marv Bolt (directions will be distributed to drivers)
Saturday, July 9  
8:00 - 10:00 am Historical Studies on Astronomy, Twentieth Century
Chair: Tom Hockey (University of Northern Iowa)
  • Jordan D. Marché II (University of Wisconsin-Madison): “The Space Astronomy Laboratory Archives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison”
  • Rudi Paul Lindner (University of Michigan): “Curtis versus Einstein”
  • Trudy E. Bell (Independent Scholar): “The San Luís Observatory: Dudley Observatory's Nearly-Forgotten Southern Observing Station”
  • Robert J. Havlik (University of Notre Dame): “A Fair Use of Arcturus: A Syzygy of Scholarians of the Yerkes Observatory In the Lighting of the Chicago Century of Progress, 1933”
10:00 - 10:30 am Break and Poster Viewing
10:30 am - 12:30 pm Early Mathematical Astronomy, Part 1
Organizer/Chair: Dennis Duke
  • Teije de Jong (Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek"): “Babylonian Observations of First and Last Appearances of Venus”
  • Lis Brack-Bernsen (Regensburg University): “On the Prediction of Lunar Eclipses”
  • Mathieu Ossendrijver (Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics, Freiburg, Germany): “Mathematization and Astronomy in Babylonia”
  • John P. Britton: “Almagest IV.2 Revisited”
11:30 - 12:30 pm Lunch
1:30 - 4:00 pm Early Mathematical Astronomy, Part 2
Organizer/Chair: Dennis Duke
  • Dennis Duke: “Who Knew What, and When? The Timing of Discoveries in Early Greek Astronomy”
  • Alexander Jones (University of Toronto): “The Astronomical Inscription from Keskinto (Rhodes)”
  • Paul Mills (Utah Valley State College): “The Corruption of the Ancient Constellations - Hipparchus' Lonely Battle”
  • Nathan Sidoli (University of Toronto): “Menelaus' Theorem in Ptolemy, Theon, and the Early Arabic Tradition”
  • Glen van Brummelen (Bennington College): “The Islamic Almagests: Trigonometric and Astronomical Tables and Computation after Ptolemy”
4:00 - 4:30 pm Break and Poster Viewing
4:30 - 6:30 pm Rheticus and Friends
Organizer: Dennis Danielson (University of British Columbia), Chair: Glen van Brummelen
  • Peter Barker (University of Oklahoma): “How Rheticus Became a Copernican”
  • Owen Gingerich (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics): “Instrumental Friends in Bavaria: Schöner, Apianus, and Petreius”
  • William B. Ashworth (University of Missouri and the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology): “Rheticus, Bearing Gifts”
  • Dennis Danielson: “How Rheticus Stayed a Copernican”
7:00 - 9:30 pm Conference Banquet, Morris Inn on the Notre Dame Campus
Welcoming Remarks
Invited Speaker: Clive Ruggles, “Astronomy at the Meeting of Two Worlds?--Case Studies”
9:30 - 10:30 pm Optional Open Session at the Notre Dame Observatory (Nieuwland Science Hall). Those interested will depart directly from the banquet. The event is, of course, weather permitting.
Sunday, July 10  
8:00 - 10:00 am Preservation of Astronomy's Assets
Organizer/Chair: Thomas R. Williams (Rice University)
  • Clive Ruggles: “Astronomy and World Heritage: The UNESCO Initiative and the UK's Involvement”
  • Sara Schechner (Harvard University): “In Advance of the Wrecking Ball and Dumpster: Museum Efforts to Preserve Astronomical Instruments Large and Small”
  • Richard Kron (Yerkes Observatory): “Yerkes Observatory: A View from Within”
  • Harry Butowsky (National Park Service)
10:00 - 10:30 am Break and Poster Viewing
10:30 - 11:30 am Historical Studies on Astronomy, Nineteenth Century
Chair: Marv Bolt (Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum)
  • Christopher Fluke (Swinburne University of Technology): “The Universe in Three Dimensions: The First Era of Stereoscopic Astrophotography”
  • Nicholas Kollerstrom (University College, London): “The Naming of Neptune”
11:40 am Business Meeting
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