various astronomy-related historical images

Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop - ND X July 6-10, 2011

Program

The printed schedule you will receive when you arrive on campus will be the definitive schedule. Thursday sessions will be held in rooms 112-114 of McKenna Hall. Saturday and Sunday sessions will be held in the auditorium of McKenna Hall. Refreshments and the book display will be in rooms 100-104 throughout the workshop.

Wednesday, July 6 Workshop Opens
7:00 - 8:00 pm Public lecture, Digital Visualization Theater, Jordan Hall of Science (lecture poster PDF)
“Three Astronomers Philosophize: Ptolemy, Kepler, and Rees”
Liba Taub, director and curator of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science and
professor in history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge
8:00 - 8:30 pm DVT Presentation, Digital Visualization Theater, Jordan Hall of Science
“Visualizing Kepler’s Cosmos,” Katherine Brading and Matthew Meixner, University of Notre Dame
8:30 - 9:30 pm Welcome reception, Main Hall, Jordan Hall of Science
Thursday, July 7 McKenna Hall
8:30 - 9:00 am Welcome and opening statements
9:00 - 10:00 am Paper session
Chair: Voula Saridakis, Lake Forest College (IL.)

“Kepler’s Novel Method of Calculating the Eccentricity of the Sun,” Yaakov Zik and Giora Hon, University of Haifa

“A False Dichotomy in Kepler’s Celestial Physics,” Jorge M. Escobar, University of Notre Dame
10:00 - 10:30 am Break
10:30 am - 12:30 pm Panel: “Using Historical Materials in Teaching Astronomy: A Panel Discussion.” Participants:

Mike Crowe, University of Notre Dame
Bill Donahue, St. John's College, Santa Fe
Alan Hirshfeld, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Owen Gingerich, Harvard University
Chris Graney, Jefferson Community & Technical College (KY)
Todd Timberlake, Berry College (GA)
Barbara Becker, University of California, Irvine
12:30 - 1:00 pm Group photo outside McKenna Hall
1:00 - 2:30 pm Lunch
2:30 - 5:00 pm Paper Session (w/ 30 minute break)
Chair: Trudy E. Bell, Science/Technology Writer and Editor

“The Relations between Dutch Radio Astronomers and Their Soviet Colleagues during the Heyday of the Cold War,” Astrid Elbers, Leiden Observatory

“Women, Minorities, and Databases,” JC Holbrook, University of California Los Angeles

“Astronomy, History, and Computer Simulations: An Approach to Teaching the Nature of Science,” Todd Timberlake, Berry College

“Philosophy, Physics, and the Meanings of 'Cosmology' in the Twentieth Century,” Peter J. Susalla, University of Wisconsin-Madison
5:00 - 7:30 pm Dinner Break
7:30 pm Off-Campus Party
Drinks and light refreshments. Location: TBA
Friday, July 8 Field trip to the Adler Planetarium
8:45 am (EDT) Bus boarding begins at McKenna Hall
9:00 am Bus departs from McKenna Hall for Adler Planetarium
10:00 am (CDT) Arrive in Chicago at the Adler Planetarium
10:00 - 10:15 am Arrival / Bathroom break / Gather in Universe Theater
10:15 - 10:30 am Welcoming remarks in Universe Theater, coffee bar provided by the Adler
10:30 - Noon Paper Session
Chair: Stephen Case, University of Notre Dame

“Astronomical Inventions of George Washington Hough,” Trudy E. Bell, Science/Technology Writer and Editor

“The Victorian and the Modern: Telescopes and the Aesthetics of Design,” Gary Cameron, Iowa State University

Noon - 1:00 pm Lunch at Galileo’s Cafe
1:00 - 1:15 pm Group photo on front steps of the Adler Planetarium
1:15 - 1:30 pm Bathroom break / Gather in Universe Theater
1:30 - 3:30 pm Panel: “A Discussion of Thing Knowledge, a book by Davis Baird.” Organizer: Liba Taub, Whipple Museum of the History of Science and University of Cambridge. Participants:

Davis Baird, Clark University
Joseph Pitt, Virginia Tech
Liba Taub, Whipple Museum of the History of Science and University of Cambridge
Yaakov Zik, University of Haifa
3:30 - 5:30 pm Free time to visit Museum galleries
4:15 pm Adler show: Deep Space Adventure (meet in Welcome Gallery)
5:30 - 6:30 pm Dinner in Executive Lobby
6:30 - 7:00 pm Bathroom break / gather on the bus
7:00 pm Departure from Adler Planetarium
10:00 pm (EDT) Arrival at Notre Dame / McKenna Hall
Saturday, July 9 McKenna Hall
8:30 - 10:30 am Panel: “‘Philosophical truly averred’: In Search of Astronomical Truth(s) 1576-1651.”
Organizer: Dennis Danielson, University of British Columbia.

“Thomas Digges: Making the Incredible Credible,” Dennis Danielson, University of British Columbia

“Perspective Trunks and Burning Glasses: Harriot’s Optical Theory and His Telescopic Observations of the Moon,” Robert Goulding, University of Notre Dame

“Eclipsing the Myth of Kepler’s Ellipse,” Owen Gingerich, Harvard University

“Giovanni Battista Riccioli’s Review of the Case for and against the Copernican Hypothesis,” Christopher M. Graney, Jefferson Community & Technical College
10:30 - 11:00 am Break
11:00 am - 12:30 pm Paper Session
Chair: John Cirilli, University of Notre Dame

“Comparison of near-horizon astronomical events recorded in ancient Egyptian diagonal star tables,” Sarah Symons, McMaster University

“The Functional Equinoctial Alignment of the Arles-Fontvieille Monuments: The Equinoctial Hierophany, the Pleiades, and Orion,” Morgan Saletta, Melbourne University

“The Bible as a History of Astronomy Sourcebook: The Ages of the Biblical Patriarchs as Derived from the Ancient Epicycle Model of the Orbit of the Sun,” Ariel Cohen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
12:30 - 2:00 pm Lunch
2:00 - 3:30 pm Panel: “Funding the History of Astronomy: The Role of the National Science Foundation, Past and Future.” Organizer: Marc Rothenberg, National Science Foundation. Participants:

Patrick Boner, Johns Hopkins University
Marvin Bolt, University of Notre Dame / Adler Planetarium
David DeVorkin, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Marc Rothenberg, National Science Foundation
3:30 - 4:00 pm Break
4:00 - 5:30 pm Paper Session
Chair: Chris Graney, Jefferson Community & Technical College

“The Origins of John Herschel’s Double Star Astronomy,” Stephen Case, University of Notre Dame

“William Huggins and George Ellery Hale: An Uncommon Partnership to Secure the Future for the New Astronomy,” Barbara Becker, University of California, Irvine

“Uniting Theory and Observation: Otto Struve as First Mover in Astrophysics,” Erik Norquest, University of Texas-Pan American
5:30 - 6:00 pm Free Time
6:00 - 7:00 pm Cocktails (Cash Bar), Location: Morris Inn
7:00 pm Banquet, location: Morris Inn

Welcoming Remarks

Banquet Lecture: “Genres of Astronomy,” Liba Taub
Whipple Museum of the History of Science and the University of Cambridge
Evening Observing session at University of Notre Dame Observatory (weather permitting)
Sunday, July 10 McKenna Hall
9:00 - 11:30 am Paper Session (with 30 minute break after third paper)
Chair: Matthew Dowd, University of Notre Dame Press

“Ptolemy’s Philosophical Defense of Astronomy,” Jacqueline Feke, Stanford University

“Understanding and Using Celestial Circles in the Early Middle Ages,” Stephen C. McCluksey, West Virginia University

“Ptolemy’s Spherical Trigonometry and His Medieval Commentators,” Henry T. Zepeda, University of Oklahoma

“The Objectives and Art of Golden Age Islamic Astronomy,” John Cirilli, University of Notre Dame
11:30 am - Noon Business Meeting, including discussion of organizing future workshops.

Generous support for the conference is provided by the Graduate Program in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame, the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) in the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame, along with the Adler Planetarium.

© 2024 University of Notre Dame.     Image Credits