Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop - ND XV June 21-24, 2023
Program
Notes:
- The printed schedule you receive when you arrive on campus will be the definitive schedule.
- All campus talks will take place in McKenna Hall, rooms 205-207 (map) (McKenna Hall layout).
- Refreshments during breaks will be available nearby.
| Wednesday, June 21 | Workshop Opens |
| 7:00pm | Public lecture, location: Atrium, Eck Visitors Center (map) Speaker: Dr. Charlotte Bigg, French CNRS, Centre Alexandre Koyré, France (Bio) Talk title: The Heavens on Earth: Visualizing the Universe, Popularizing Astronomy in Modern Times (abstract) |
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| A reception will follow Dr. Bigg's talk in the Atrium of the Eck Visitors Center. |
| Thursday, June 22 | Workshop continues in McKenna Hall, rooms 205-207 |
| 9:00 - 9:30 am | Welcome and opening statements |
| 9:30 - 11:00 am | Paper Session Chair: Stephen Case, Olivet Nazarene University “Work So Difficult that It Could Give the Computer a Headache,” Dana A. Freiburger, independent scholar (abstract) “Communication for and through Practice: Astronomy and the Early Laboratory Class,” Sarah Reynolds, University of Indianapolis (abstract) “Oppenheimer and the Cosmos,” Virginia Trimble, University of California, Irvine (abstract) |
| 11:00 am - Noon | Paper Session Chair: Jörg Matthias Determann, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar “Transmission Paths of Astronomical Instrument Design Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century America,” Trudy E. Bell, independent scholar (abstract) “Copernicus in the Backwoods: How the New Cosmology Reached Ordinary Americans,” Trent MacNamara, Texas A&M University (abstract) |
| Noon - 1:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 - 3:00 pm | Paper Session: Norman Lockyer’s Networks: Rethinking His Communications Chair: Jason Hall, University of Exeter “Written on the Flyleaf: James Joyce’s Coded Communication with Astronomy,” Jason Hall, University of Exeter (abstract) “Between Scientific Naturalism and Christianity: Solar Physics and the Collaboration of Norman Lockyer and Balfour Stewart,” Richard Noakes, University of Exeter (abstract) “‘In Cairo also I worried my archaeological friends’: Norman Lockyer and the Beginnings of Archaeoastronomy,” Beatrice Steele, University of Exeter (abstract) |
| 3:00 - 3:30 pm | Break |
| 3:30 - 4:30 pm | Paper Session Chair: Matthew Dowd, University of Notre Dame Press “(Mis)Communicating Ancient Astronomy: Plato’s Planetary Order for Mercury and Venus as Exemplar of Uncritical Transmission across Millennia,” James Brannon, independent scholar (abstract) “Stonehenge Calendars in the Lozenge Length,” Ivy Jiang, Episcopal High School of Baton Rouge, and Eugene Jiang, MIT (abstract) |
| 4:30 - 5:30 pm | Special Presentation “The Evolution of Planispheric Celestial Volvelles in the Marketplace,” Thomas Hockey, University of Northern Iowa (abstract) |
| 7:30 pm | Reception at the home of Matt & Amy Dowd, 17890 Drury Lane Ct., Granger, IN 46530 (map) |
| Friday, June 23 | Workshop continues with visit to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago |
| 8:30 am | Bus departs from Notre Dame campus for the Adler Planetarium |
| 10:00 am CDT | Bus arrives at Adler Planetarium in Chicago |
| 10:10 - 10:15 am CDT | Group photo and then gather in the Johnson Theater |
| 10:15 - 10:30 am CDT | Welcoming remarks by Andrew Johnston |
| 10:30 am - Noon CDT | Paper Session Chair: Andrew Johnston, Adler Planetarium “First and Third Wednesdays: Public Visitor Nights at Washburn Observatory since 1881,” James Lattis, University of Wisconsin-Madison (abstract) “Newspaper Coverage of Astronomy in Chicago, 1860–1910,” Lee Minnerly, independent scholar (abstract) “The Light of Arcturus: Time, Place, and Light at the Century of Progress,” Katie Boyce-Jacino, Adler Planetarium (abstract) |
| Noon - 1:30 pm CDT | Lunch in the Executive Lobby |
| 1:30 – 2:30 pm CDT | Free time in the Planetarium |
| 2:30 - 3:00 pm CDT | Planetarium show, “Imagine the Moon” (tickets to be distributed at the Adler) |
| 3:00 – 4:30 pm CDT | Magic Lanterns The Night Sky, performance by Artemis Willis, Independent Scholar, and featuring Amy Stebbins as “the lecturer” Demonstration by Katie Boyce-Jacino, Adler Planetarium Discussion moderated by Charlotte Bigg, CNRS, Centre Alexandre Koyré, Paris |
| 4:30 – 5:30 pm CDT | Happy Hour in the Executive Lobby |
| 5:30 – 6:00 pm CDT | Loading and departure via bus to Notre Dame |
| 9:00 pm EDT | Bus arrives back to Notre Dame |
| Saturday, June 24 | Workshop continues in McKenna Hall, rooms 205-207 |
| 9:00 - 10:30 am | Paper Session Chair: Dana Freiburger, Independent Scholar “Communicating Data to a Larger Public: FITS Liberator, a Case Study,” Maxime Harvey, University of Quebec in Montreal (abstract) “Documenting the Development of Data-Driven Astronomy,” Ashish Mahabal, Caltech; S. George Djorgovski, Caltech; David Zierler, Caltech; Pranav Sharma, INSA (abstract) “The Astronomy Genealogy Project: Transmission of Astronomical Knowledge and Methods from Advisor to Student,” Joseph S. Tenn, Sonoma State University (abstract) |
| 10:30 - 11:00 am | Break |
| 11:00 am - Noon | Practicum Session Organizer: William H. Donahue, St. John’s College “Testing a Sixteenth-Century Observational Instrument: The St. John’s College Tychonic Armillary,” William H. Donahue, St. John’s College (abstract) |
| Noon - 1:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 - 3:00 pm | Paper Session Chair: Wesley Hedden, University of Notre Dame “Celestial Movement: A History of Social Justice Activism in Astronomy,” Jörg Matthias Determann, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (abstract) “Cultural Astronomy and Modern Skywatching,” Steven R. Gullberg, University of Oklahoma (abstract) “Listen to the Experts: The Untold Secrets behind Closed Backroom Deals Money, Politicians, Bureaucrats, and an Astronomy…that Affects Us All!,” Ian Tasker, Western Sydney University (abstract) |
| 3:00 - 3:30 pm | Break |
| 3:30 - 5:30 pm | Panel Session Panel Organizer: Kristine Palmieri, University of Chicago (abstract) “Deciphering E. E. Barnard’s Notes on 61 Cygni,” Michael N. Martinez, University of Wisconsin-Madison (abstract) “Digitization and Analysis of a Yerkes Observatory Spectroscopic Glass Plate,” Isaiah Escapa, University of Chicago; Rowen Glusman, University of Chicago; Daniel Babnigg, University of Chicago; Rachel Kovach-Fuentes, University of Chicago; and Ha Do, University of Chicago (abstract) “A Biographical Approach to Histories of Science and Gender in the Early Twentieth Century: Frances Lowater and Women’s Work at the Yerkes Observatory,” Chloe Brettman, University of Chicago, and Elena Tiedens, University of Chicago (abstract) |
| 6:30 - 9:00pm | Workshop banquet and after-dinner lecture will be held in McKenna Hall, room 215 (map). Invited Speaker Lecture by Charlotte Bigg, CNRS, Centre Alexandre Koyré, Paris “The Science of Lunar Portraiture” (abstract) Business Meeting chaired by Matthew F. Dowd, University of Notre Dame Press |
| Evening | Observing Session at Notre Dame Observatory (weather permitting) Planned: Viewing using the Napoleon III Telescope |
Acknowledgments: Generous support for the workshop is provided by the Graduate Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA), the College of Science’s Nieuwland Lecture Series, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Department of Physics of the University of Notre Dame, as well as the Vatican Observatory Foundation and the Adler Planetarium.