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* *
* ELEKTRONISCHE MITTEILUNGEN ZUR ASTRONOMIEGESCHICHTE *
* *
* Herausgegeben vom Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte *
* in der Astronomischen Gesellschaft *
* *
* Nr. 64, 9. November 2003 *
* *
* Redaktion: Wolfgang R. Dick und Hilmar W. Duerbeck *
* *
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Inhalt
------
1. Kolloquium ueber Johann Christoph Sturm
2. Symposium ueber Einstein und die Kunst
3. Commemorating the 375th birthday of Christiaan Huygens
4. 7th Oxford conference on archeoastronomy
5. Einstein archives available online
6. David A. King: New website on medieval astronomical instruments
7. Mohammad Bagheri: Sundial Group of the Thaqib Astronomical Society
8. Andrew S. Cook: The Great Arc: Exhibition of Mapping of India
Danksagung
Impressum
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Item 1 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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Kolloquium ueber Johann Christoph Sturm
---------------------------------------
Ein Festkolloquium zu Ehren von Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703)
findet am 14./15. November 2003 in Hilpoltstein/Mittelfranken statt.
Veranstalter ist das Cauchy-Forum-Nuernberg (CFN) e.V.,
Interdisziplinaeres Forum fuer Mathematik und ihre Grenzgebiete
(www.Cauchy-forum-nuernberg.de), OStR Guenter Loeffladt,
Wielandstrasse 13, D-90419 Nuenberg, Tel.: 0911-379935,
Fax: 0911-337316, e-mail: cfn@fcl-nuernberg.de
Geplanter Programmablauf (Aenderungen moeglich)
Freitag, 14. November, Beginn: 19.00 Uhr
Grussworte und Eroeffnung des Kolloquiums
Einfuehrung
OStD Guenter Loeffladt
Festreferat
Prof. em. Knut Radbruch, Universitaet Kaiserslautern
Samstag, 15. November, Beginn: 9.00 Uhr
Leitung/Moderation:
Pierre Leich M.A., OStD Guenter Loeffladt, Cauchy-Forum-Nuernberg
Zur Biographie von Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703)
OStR Hans Gaab, Nuernberg
Hilpoltstein zu Zeiten Johann Christoph Sturms
Dr. Thomas Platz, Bamberg
Johann Christoph Sturm und Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz
Stefan Kratochwil, Universitaet Jena
Sturms Theorie der wissenschaftlichen Methode
Prof. Dr. Michael Albrecht, Universitaet Trier
Sturms Eklektik bei Scheuchzer
Dr. Michael Kempe, Max-Planck-Institut Frankfurt am Main
Universalmathematik und Metaphysik bei Johann Christoph Sturm
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Leinsle, Universitaet Regensburg
Das Collegium experimentale sive curiosum und die Anfaenge
experimenteller Naturwissenschaften im protestantischen Deutschland
Dr. Gerhard Wiesenfeldt, Universitaet Jena
Der Beitrag von Johann Christoph Sturm zur astronomischen Forschung
Dr. Klaus-Dieter Herbst, Technische Universitaet Berlin
Johann Christoph Sturm als Kalendermacher
Dr. Klaus Matthaeus, Erlangen
Auskuenfte/weitere Informationen:
Hans Gaab
Loebleinstr. 21
90409 Nuernberg
Tel: 0911/362499
email: HansGaab@t-online.de
Ausserdem:
Sonderausstellung zu Johann Christoph Sturm
in Hilpoltstein, Museum Schwarzes Ross
Eroeffnung: Freitag, 18. Juli 2003
bis Jahresende taeglich (ausser Montags) geoeffnet.
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Item 2 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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Symposium ueber Einstein und die Kunst
--------------------------------------
Der Fachverband Geschichte der Physik der Deutschen Physikalischen
Gesellschaft veranstaltet im Rahmen der Physikertagung (14.3.-19.3.2004)
ein
Symposium am 15. Maerz 2004 in Ulm
"Einstein und die Kunst".
Das Symposium soll sowohl das Verhaeltnis von Albert Einstein zur Kunst,
als auch die Rezeption seines Lebens und Werkes in den unterschiedlichsten
kuenstlerischen Sparten - von der Literatur ueber die Musik bis hin zur
darstellenden und bildenden Kunst - behandeln.
Vortragsanmeldungen mit einem maximal einseitigen Abstract oder
Anfragen zur Tagung (inclusive Teilnahmeinteresse) sind mit Angabe der
vollstaendigen Adresse des Einsenders (incl. e-mail oder Fax) bis zum 31.
Oktober 2003 zu richten an:
PD Dr. Dieter Hoffmann,
MPI fuer Wissenschaftsgeschichte,
Wilhelmstrasse 44,
D-10117 Berlin
Fon: 030/22667-117
Fax: 030/22667-299
e-mail: dh@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
[Quelle: Carsten Reinhardt an Mailing-Liste "Wissenschaftsgeschichte
in Deutschland", oldenburg@listserv.ngate.uni-regensburg.de, 12.5.2003]
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Item 3 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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Commemorating the 375th Birthday of Christiaan Huygens
------------------------------------------------------
Titan - From Discovery to Encounter
International Conference to commemorate the
375th birthday of Christiaan Huygens, born 14 April 1629
Christiaan Huygens was one of the most respected leading European
scientists in the 17th century. He was the first of what we would today
call a "scientific director" of the Academie Francaise. One highlight in
his carrier was the discovery of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 1655.
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
For ESA, the highlight of 2004 and early 2005 will be the arrival of the
NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens spacecraft at Saturn and the release of the
Huygens probe into the atmosphere of Titan. The aim of the conference is to
bring together historians and space scientists to discuss:
o Christiaan Huygens, the person, the scientist, his relations with other
scientists in the 17th century, like Cassini,
o Descartes, Newton, etc.
o Observations of Saturn and its moons since the 17th century.
o The Cassini-Huygens mission and the latest observations on the way
to the encounter of Titan.
Dates: 13 to 17 April 2004
Location: ESTEC Conference centre
http://sci2.esa.int/huygens/conference/
Scientific Programme Committee (all to be confirmed)
Dennis Matson (dmatson@jpl.nasa.gov)
Cecille Ferrari (Cecile.Ferrari@cea.fr)
Tobias Owen (owen@ifa.hawaii.edu)
Fabrizio Bonoli (bonoli@bo.astro.it)
Fokko Dijksterhuis (f.j.dijksterhuis@wmw.utwente.nl)
Cees Grimbergen (grimberg@doge.nl)
Albert van Helden (A.VanHelden@phys.uu.nl)
Athena Coustenis (Athena.Coustenis@obspm.fr)
Jean Pierre Lebreton (Jean-Pierre.Lebreton@esa.int)
John Zarnecki (J.C.Zarnecki@open.ac.uk)
Local Organising Committee
Gonnie Elfering (Gonnie.Elfering@esa.int)
Jean Pierre Lebreton (Jean-Pierre.Lebreton@esa.int)
Clare Bingham (Clare.Bingham@esa.int)
Henk Olthof (Henk.Olthof@esa.int)
Programme
The programme will consist of invited papers, contributed papers, and
posters. The intention is to publish the proceedings in the ESA SP series.
Tuesday 13 April (pm):
Opening session
Invited talks
Musical intermezzos
Video presentation of the Cassini-Huygens mission
Wednesday 14 April:
Christiaan Huygens, the person, scientist and his relationships
with other scientists.
Invited talk
Contributing talks
Invited birthday lecture
Thursday 15 April (am):
The Cassini-Huygens mission in historical perspective
The contribution of Gerard P. Kuiper
Invited talk
Contributing talks
Afternoon: excursion
Conference dinner
Friday 16 April
Recent results of Saturn/Titan observations (ground- and space-based)
and theoretical studies
Invited talk
Contributing talks
Saturday 17 April
Public outreach day
Amateur astronomers' observations of Saturn and Titan
Public lectures
CONFERENCE FEE:
150 Euro for the entire conference covering, coffee breaks, excursions and
conference dinner, conference bag, proceedings, sandwich lunch on the
public outreach day.
35 Euro, students 10 Euro, for the public outreach day only, covering
coffee breaks, sandwich lunch, conference bag and proceedings.
SCHEDULE:
1st announcement: November 2002
Call for papers: April 2003
Deadline for paper submission: September 2003
Final Programme: December 2003
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Please send e-mail to Henk.Olthof@esa.int
[Source: Ron Baalke to HASTRO-L, The History of Astronomy Discussion Group,
HASTRO-L@LISTSERV.WVU.EDU, 28 Jan 2003]
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Item 4 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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7th Oxford Conference on Archeoastronomy
----------------------------------------
This is to announce the public release of the website for the Seventh
Oxford Conference on Archaeoastronomy, to be held from June 20-27, 2004 in
Flagstaff, Arizona. The conference is being sponsored by a number of
organizations, including the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Pueblo Grande
Museum (Phoenix AZ), Lowell Observatory, the Coconino County Board of
Supervisors, the City of Flagstaff - Flagstaff Cultural Partners, Northern
Arizona University College of Arts & Sciences / Physics and Astronomy
Department, the NAU-NASA Space Grant Program, and the Roden Crater Project.
The Web site is being hosted by Lowell Observatory at the URL
http://www.lowell.edu/Public/ox7/index.html
On the Web site, you will find program information and instructions for
submitting abstracts, as well as local information.
Please direct all questions and correspondence regarding the conference to
Oxford7@earthlink.net.
On behalf of the Oxford 7 Local Organizing Committee,
Jeffrey Hall
Assistant Research Scientist
Associate Director, Education and Special Programs
Lowell Observatory
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
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Item 5 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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Einstein Archives available online
----------------------------------
More than 900 scientific and nonscientific documents of one of the most
influential intellects in the modern era, Albert Einstein, are available
online for the first time.
The Einstein Archives Online website, at
http://www.alberteinstein.info
will also be accompanied by an extensive database of archival information.
It was launched on May 19 during a daylong symposium on his life and work,
to be held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (see:
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/)
The new website is the result of an ambitious cooperative effort between
the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the
Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology. It
enables access to some 3,000 high-quality digitized images. Thirty-nine
documents are also provided (in PDF format) as they appear in The Collected
Papers of Albert Einstein, published in German by Princeton University
Press, with historical and scientific annotations in English; some of the
documents are accompanied by English translations.
An extensive archival database and finding aid allows for the direct
searching and browsing of more than 40,000 records of Einstein and
Einstein-related documents. These concern his scientific and nonscientific
writings, his professional and personal correspondence, notebooks, travel
diaries, personal documents, and third-party items.
The website was developed in collaboration with the Information Technology
and Photo-Reprography Departments of the Hebrew University's Jewish
National & University Library (JNUL), the David and Fela Shapell
Digitization Project at the JNUL, and with Princeton University Press. The
archival database presents records for all items that have been edited and
annotated by scholars, and that have appeared since 1987 in The Collected
Papers. These include some 500 items that were not part of the original
collection, but that were uncovered during the past 25 years. The eight
volumes that are available so far contain Einstein's writings and
correspondence from his youth to age 40. They include his major papers on
the theory of special relativity, general relativity, the quantum theory of
light and matter, as well as a wealth of lesser-known contributions to many
aspects of science, education, international reconciliation, Zionism, and
pacifism.
Einstein's personal papers were bequeathed to the Hebrew University in his
last will and testament of 1950. The Albert Einstein Archives has been
housed at the Hebrew University's JNUL since 1982.
The Einstein Papers Project at Caltech is a multidisciplinary research and
editorial team engaged in the collection, selection, and scholarly
annotation of The Collected Papers, an edition of 25 planned volumes of
Einstein's writings and correspondence.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was envisaged by its founders as a
"university of the Jewish people." Its foundation stone was laid in 1918,
and its doors opened in 1925. Today, its student body totals around 23,000
and its tenured academic faculty numbers 1,200. The university is Israel's
leading academic center for research and postgraduate study.
Founded in 1891, Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students, and a
faculty of about 280 professorial members, 65 research members, and some
560 postdoctoral scholars. Over the years, 30 Nobel Prizes and four
Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni.
The Jewish National & University Library is the central library of the
Hebrew University and the national library of the Jewish people and the
State of Israel. Founded in 1892 as a world center for the preservation of
books relating to Jewish thought and culture, it assumed the additional
functions of a general university library in 1920.
[Source: Caltech News Release, May 14, 2003. Contact: Mark Wheeler,
(626) 395-8733, wheel@caltech.edu]
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Item 6 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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New website on medieval astronomical instruments
------------------------------------------------
By David A. King, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
There is now an updated website giving information about research on
medieval Islamic and European astronomical instruments that has been
conducted in Frankfurt over the past 10 years.
Some of this activity has been made possible by generous support from the
German Research Foundation (DFG).
The new website features a list of publications, works in press, and works
in preparation by members of the Frankfurt team, past and present. In these
publications we have tried to use astronomical instruments as historical
sources within their cultural and geographical contexts. Thus, for example,
it was possible to show that the astrolabe supposedly dedicated by
Regiomontanus to his patron Cardinal Bessarion in 1462 but branded fake,
was one of close to a dozen from the same or closely-related workshops,
some even by the same maker. Again, it has been possible to show that
various medieval European instruments such as the quadrans vetus were known
already in 9th-century Baghdad. In the case of the elusive navicula de
Venetiis we have been able to show that all of the components were known in
the same milieu, as was a more complicated instrument for timekeeping by
the stars for any latitude. New evidence from manuscripts establishes the
context of three brass world-maps from 17th-century Iran bearing
hightly-sophisticated grids preserving direction and (the sine of) the
distance to Mecca at the centre firmly in earlier (10th and 11th century)
Islamic mathematics. Some of the studies concentrate on the inscriptions
(such as names of the zodiacal signs and months in regional Latin or local
vernaculars), the geographical information explicit or implicit on
instruments, and others treat the instruments within the general context of
astronomical timekeeping or as historical works of art.
There is also provisional table of contents (TOC) of the catalogue that has
been in preparation for the past few years. This TOC can serve for the
present and immediate future as an ordered list of instruments, arranged
chronologically by provenance. I would be grateful for information on any
early instruments that are not listed here.
The information on instruments from after ca. 1500 was compiled about 10
years ago and in the main has not been touched since. The entries for such
instruments in the TOC for later instruments have simply been picked up by
the automatic TOC generator: for many of them there are no descriptions,
and none are planned. Certain later sections of the catalogue/TOC have been
made redundant anyway by recent publications by Gerard Turner (English
Renaissance), Koenraad van Cleempoel (Flemish and Spanish Renaissance), and
the forthcoming publication by S. R. Sarma (Indian instruments with
inscriptions in Arabic-Persian-Sanscrit).
The descriptions of instruments from before ca. 1500 are in reasonable
shape but are not yet publishable. The long-term goal was/is to make the
descriptions available, starting with early Islamic instruments (to 1200)
and then the earliest European instruments. This will be done in small
batches, and some sample descriptions will eventually be put on this site.
For the rest there is still plenty of work to be done. Any serious
researcher working on a specific group of instruments is welcome to inspect
the materials available here or take over the descriptions of such a corpus
of instruments.
A major problem is the lack of adequate photographic documentation. Only a
minority of museums are capable of preparing decent photos of instruments,
and costs have skyrocketed. See the site EPACT mentioned below for some
good photos.
More serious problems are: 1) the fact that funding for the project is
virtually exhausted, and 2) the fact that most of the young scholars who
have been trained here in the study of instruments have moved on.
The website is:
http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/fb13/ign/instrument-catalogue.html
I hope that it will stimulate some serious interest in these "forgotten
treasures of the Middle Ages".
Please note: The website
EPACT: Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe,
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/epact/
provides illustrations and descriptions of European instruments
in Oxford, Florence, London (BM) and Leiden.
Author's address:
Prof. Dr. David A. King
Institute for History of Science
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
D 60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
e-mail: king@em.uni-frankfurt.de or kingabumax@aol.com
Tel. +49-69-7982-2754 / -2337 / -2338, Fax: -3275
[Source: David A. King to Rete Mailing List, rete@mhs.ox.ac.uk,
27 June 2002]
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Item 7 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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Sundial Group of the Thaqib Astronomical Society
------------------------------------------------
By Mohammad Bagheri
Friday 27 September 2002 was the first day of establishment and formal
activity of a "Sundial Group" as a working branch of the THAQIB
Astronomical Society in Rasht (centre of the Gilan province in northern
Iran, on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea). The seat of the Society is
in a newly built beautiful park, which is planned to become a "Sundial
Park". At present there is an analemmatic sundial in this park that
attracts many visitors to the park. The members of the Sundial Group
(mostly young schoolgirls) plan to study the history along with
mathematical, astronomical and artistic aspects of sundials, which provide
them with a concrete application of the mathematical courses, especially
trigonometry. They are supposed to be in charge of designing several
sundials for the cultural buildings in the whole province in future. Any
comments or communications may be sent to:
Sundial Group, Thaqib Astronomical Society, P.O. Box 13145-1785, Tehran,
Iran
[Source: Peter Ransom to Sundial Mailing List, sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de,
3 Nov 2002]
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Item 8 EMA Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003
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The Great Arc: Exhibition of Mapping of India
---------------------------------------------
By Andrew S. Cook, London, UK
The Government of India travelling exhibition on the bicentenary of William
Lambton and the start of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India has
opened in Cambridge, at the first of five locations in the UK this year. It
provides a unique opportunity to see historic instruments and archives from
the Survey of India Museum collections in Dehra Dun (including Ramsden's
Great Theodolite, last seen in Britain at the Science Museum Festival of
India exhibition in 1981). Visit www.thegreatarc.net for more information,
including the text of the GBP 5 book accompanying the exhibition. The
exhibition runs 15-23 July in a marquee on Jesus Green, Cambridge
(connecting with the quadrennial international Cambridge Conference of
surveyors), 5-24 August in Edinburgh, 4-20 September in Birmingham,
1 October-12 November in London, and 26 November-15 January 2004 in
Manchester. Though the mounting of the exhibition was devolved to Teamwork
Productions India, the Survey of India apparently intend to have an
official present at the exhibition sites, currently Charanjit Mamik, senior
librarian from Survey of India Geodetic and Research Branch, Dehra Dun, in
Cambridge. The exhibit is the centrepiece of the Festival of the Great Arc,
with performances of Indian dance and music in Britain, and also serves
very well as a didactic exhibition of the history of geodetic survey and
mapping in India over 200 years.
Author's address:
Andrew S. Cook MA PhD FRSA FRHistS
Map Archivist, India Office Records
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB, UK
e-mail andrew.cook@bl.uk
Telephone/Voicemail 020 7412 7828, Fax 020 7412 7641
[Source: Andrew S. Cook to Rete Mailing List, rete@maillist.ox.ac.uk,
16 July 2003]
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Danksagung
----------
Fuer die direkte Zusendung von Informationen danken wir Hans Gaab und
Jeffrey Hall.
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Impressum
---------
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Herausgegeben vom Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte in der Astronomischen
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Redaktion: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick und Dr. Hilmar
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