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Christopher M. Graney

About Christopher M. Graney

Christopher M. Graney is professor of physics and astronomy at Jefferson Community & Technical College in Louisville, Kentucky (USA), where he helps keep the college’s observatory running. For some years now his research focus has been the history of astronomy, especially the late 16th and early 17th centuries. That research has resulted in two books: Setting Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science Against Copernicus in the Age of Galileo (2015), and Mathematical Disquisitions: The Booklet of Theses Immortalized by Galileo (2017), both published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Graney is also editor of the Vatican Observatory Faith and Science pages.

Lunar Eavesdropping: Two Men, a Radio, and Apollo 11 (re-run)

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In honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I am today “re-running” this slightly edited combination of two posts that originally ran last summer. Today we celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.*  I wish those celebrations included more recognition of a unique accomplishment that is part of the Apollo 11 story but that is widely unknown: the work of Larry Baysinger—a man from my home town of Louisville, Kentucky—who independently detected signals from the Apollo 11 astronauts as they walked on the lunar surface.  Baysinger’s accomplishments were recorded and promptly published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, by another Louisvillian by the name of Glenn Rutherford, who later went on to be editor of the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville, The Record. Rutherford was a 23-year-old reporter for the Courier-Journal, and his article about Baysinger was published under the headline “Lunar Eavesdropping:  Louisvillians hear moon walk talk on homemade equipment”.  Baysinger was a … Continue reading →

Kentucky Science Conversations – Teaching Our Faith (and Science)

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The Archdiocese of Louisville (Kentucky) has been talking science.  During the month of May, five articles on faith and science appeared in our diocesan newspaper, The Record.  They were part of the “Teaching Our Faith” series that the paper runs periodically.  I do not think such things are common in the pages of diocesan papers.  I do think more science in diocesan papers would be a great thing. The “Teaching Our Faith” articles were the idea of Louisville’s Archbishop, Joseph Kurtz.  Archbishop Kurtz contributed a guest post to The Catholic Astronomer (now Sacred Space Astronomy) last November.  At that time I told the story about how in September 2017, with astronomy “in the air” thanks to the August 2017 eclipse, Prof. Gerry Williger, an astronomer at the University of Louisville here in Kentucky, sent an invitation to Archbishop Kurtz to attend some of the talks that are part of the Public Astronomy Lecture Series hosted by UofL’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.  Archbishop … Continue reading →

The Far Sun – Far Beyond Comprehension

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Does it seem dim outside?  Well, it should—sort of.  Because it is dim outside—sort of. On this past Thursday, July 4, just before the end of the day as seen from London (at 11:10 pm British Standard Time), the Earth was at the aphelion point of its orbit—the point at which it is farthest from the sun.  At that time it was 94,513,221 miles from the sun.  By contrast, at its perihelion point (closest to the sun), on January 3, Earth was merely 91,403,554 miles from the sun. Earth is over 3,100,000 miles farther away from the sun now than it was in January.  Of course, that is only a 3.4% difference.  But if you observed the sun carefully, and measured its apparent diameter, you could see that difference.  The fact that the distance between the sun and the Earth changes has been known since antiquity. The sun is a remarkable object, really beyond our comprehension in many ways. First … Continue reading →

Max Planck on Religion and Science

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My post from last week was about a cool entry on the Vatican Observatory—Faith and Science site about Enrico Fermi (click here for that post).  I had come across Fermi again as I was doing a periodic review of all 500 entries in the site (which I edit), looking for errors and broken links. In that same review, I came across some other cool entries regarding Max Planck.  Planck was one of the key figures in the development of quantum mechanics.  I was thinking about doing a post on these Planck entries when Fr. Kurzynski’s “Dispelling the Myth” post appeared (click here for it).  Upon reading about yet another instance of the promotion in schools of the idea that there is conflict between religion and science, and about Fr. Kurzynski’s effort to present “an image of peace between faith and science”, I decided that a focus on Planck is in order. Again, in my opinion the best material to address … Continue reading →

Enrico Fermi, the Farmer, and the Sky

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Look to the top of your screen.  There it says Vatican Observatory—The Catholic Astronomer—Sacred Space Astronomy.  You are looking at one pretty cool science site.  But there is a sister site here, too: Vatican Observatory—Faith and Science.  I edit that site, meaning I get to do cool stuff like read interesting books for the purpose of finding good content for the site, and I have to do tedious stuff like periodically plow through all 500 entries in the site, looking for errors and broken links. Recently that plowing brought me to, and refreshed my memory of, a really great Vatican Observatory—Faith and Science (VOF&S) entry, on Enrico Fermi (1901-1954).  Fermi was one of the 20th century’s great physicists.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1938.  His contributions to science are too numerous to list here, and the VOF&S entry is not about those contributions; it is about his recollection of the thoughts of an Italian farmer regarding the night sky … Continue reading →

Looking for Wormwood

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“Is the Vatican Observatory searching for the star called Wormwood from the Book of Revelation?” This question was asked during the Q&A session that followed a talk about the V.O. given by one of the members of the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s Board of Directors. Those who hear “wormwood” and think of an herb, sometimes found in soaps and teas, simply are not keeping up with all the latest from the Internet.  Here is the portion of Revelation, from the 8th and 9th chapters, where Wormwood makes an appearance (King James Version): And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: … Continue reading →

Elena Cornaro Piscopia – Google Doodle Scientist

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Did you use Google yesterday?  If you did, you probably saw the “Google Doodle” in honor of Elena Cornaro Piscopia.  Piscopia was the first woman to receive a doctoral degree (PhD) from a university (the University of Padua in Italy, in 1678).  And, she is yet another Google Doodle scientist who was a person of faith. With a little digging (not an exhaustive search by any means) I found the following articles that seem to provide some details about Piscopia for a broad audience: An article by Deirdre Pirro, published in 2013 by The Florentine—click here for Pirro’s article. An article from Vassar College (there is a stained glass window of Piscopia in the library at Vassar)—click here for the Vassar article. The Wikipedia entry on Piscopia—click here for it. Various sources report that Piscopia was an oblate of the Benedictine order.  She wanted to join the order as a nun, but her father objected (she is featured on the … Continue reading →

Astronomy in Art & Architecture: The Stars of St. Rose, Cincinnati

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Those readers of The Catholic Astronomer who have been following this blog for a while will be familiar with my “Art & Architecture” posts (click here for all of them).  When I first began writing them, I had the idea that astronomical themes would be easy to find in art and in architecture if I kept my eyes open.  But I have found that in fact astronomy in art and architecture is less common than I expected.  So when I was in Cincinnati visiting the Cincinnati Observatory (the subject of two recent posts), I was happy to discover St. Rose Church and its ceiling of stars. St. Rose sits on the north bank of the Ohio River, just a bit upstream from downtown Cincinnati.  On the outside of the church is a plaque that reads, in the German language of the immigrant community that the church first served, “St. Rosa Kirche, Errechtet A.D. 1868”—“St. Rose Church, Erected A.D. 1868”.  On … Continue reading →

How a Jesuit Astronomer and His Student beat Isaac Newton to a Key Idea by more than 50 Years

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In 1614, well before Isaac Newton was even born, a German Jesuit astronomer named Christoph Scheiner and his student, Johann Georg Locher, developed an explanation for how the Earth could orbit the sun.  Earth, they said, was like a massive ball, perpetually falling toward the sun.  They discussed this in their 1614 book Disquisitiones Mathematicae de Controversiis et Novitatibus Astronomicis, or Mathematical Disquisitions Concerning Astronomical Controversies and Novelties (recently translated by yours truly, and published by the University of Notre Dame Press—click here).  This was Locher’s thesis for his degree from the University of Ingolstadt, where Fr. Scheiner taught. Fr. Scheiner is a relatively well-known figure in the history of astronomy.  He is the astronomer with whom Galileo debated regarding sunspots; he would go on to write a monumental 1630 book based on his long-term, detailed solar observations: Rosa Ursina Sive Sol.  This book would define solar astronomy for decades.  By contrast, not much is known about Locher.  Galileo himself … Continue reading →

How Frs. Riccioli and Dechales Argued that Science Shows the Earth to be at Rest – The Coriolis Effect (re-run)

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This is a “re-run” of a post that originally ran on July 19, 2017. My post for next week will feature Fr. Riccioli and the Coriolis Effect, so revisiting this topic seems like a good idea. The Coriolis Effect is an apparent deflection of projectiles and falling bodies that is caused by the rotation of the Earth. It is named for Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, a French scientist who described it mathematically in the early 19th century. It is responsible for the rotation of weather patterns such as hurricanes. But it turns out that a century and a half before Coriolis did his work, other scientists were discussing the Coriolis Effect. These scientists were Jesuits—Fr. Giovanni Battista Riccioli, who discussed the effect in his 1651 book Almagestum Novum, and Fr. Claude François Milliet Dechales, who discussed the effect and included some nice simple diagrams of it in his 1674 book Cursus seu Mundus Mathematicae. What is interesting about this is that … Continue reading →

Georgios Papanikolaou: Google Doodle Scientist

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If you used Google today you certainly noticed today’s Google Doodle scientist—George Nicholas Papanicolaou (Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou), inventor of the Pap smear test that enabled the early discovery of cervical cancer and other diseases.  There are a few bits of information that suggests that Papanikolaou was a scientist of faith: He was buried from St. Sophia Orthodox church in Miami. The journal Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine has an interview with Dr. Neda Voutsa-Perdiki, who wrote a 2016 book in Greek whose title in translation is Dr George and Mache-Mary Papanicolaou – As I knew them (published by the Medical Council of Athens, Greece). Dr. Voutsa-Perdiki states that “The secret of his [Papanicolaou’s] scientific success was hard work, dedication, love of research, faith and the courage he gained from his wife and colleagues.”  Dr. Voutsa-Perdiki also states that “He [Papanicolaou] frequently referred to the Easter season, especially to the mystagogy of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and the byzantine melodies of the church. In Kyme, as a child, he used to sing at the church those days himself. For this reason, he used to spend his Easter holidays with his nephew Vaggelis Stamatiou and his family, who lived close to Dr Papanicolaou’s house in Douglaston.” An article in the Singapore … Continue reading →

Sun & Moon—The Museum and the Market Square

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How often do astronomical objects appear in art and architecture?  That seems to depend on where you are.  If you are in a museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, you might see very little.  If you are in a market square in San Antonio, Texas, you might find yourself surrounded by it. When my wife and I were in Cincinnati to visit the observatory there (click here and here for posts on that observatory), we decided to visit the Cincinnati Art Museum.  The goal of our visit was to find astronomical imagery in art work.  Astronomy in art and architecture has always seemed to me to be a great topic for The Catholic Astronomer.  It is something that might appeal to a very broad variety of people (click here for posts on the “Astronomy in Art & Architecture” theme).  Of course it is something that might especially appeal to people interested in astronomy, and to Catholics (given the emphasis on art and … Continue reading →