Tag Archives: History

ⓜ Science and humility

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This entry is part 14 of 43 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote: As I have mentioned, in 2009 the Redemptorist Press invited me to write a series of reflections on issues of religion and science for the Sunday bulletins that are distributed in churches throughout the United Kingdom.  As it happens, the days of the week in 2009 match those of 2020 (after this year’s leap day) and the liturgical calendar also matches; thus, both in 2009 and 2020, the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time falls on 2 August. Here’s what I wrote for the that reflection: Children are fascinated by nature. They are tireless collectors of rocks and bugs, and full of curiosity about the sky and stars. Sadly, by the time they become teenagers, much of that enthusiasm is lost. That also happens with religion, of course. Too many people stop learning anything new about their faith by the time they finish with confirmation classes. And so too often we go through life with a 12-year-old’s … Continue reading →

ⓜ A familiar tale for a new audience

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This entry is part 17 of 43 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote: As I mentioned last week, in 2009 the Redemptorist Press invited me to write a series of reflections on issues of religion and science for the Sunday bulletins that are distributed in churches throughout the United Kingdom.  Recall, the days of the week in 2009 match those of 2020 (after this year’s leap day) and the liturgical calendar also matches; thus, both in 2009 and 2020, the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time falls on 12 July. Here’s what I wrote for the second reflection… it’s a new retelling of a tale familiar to most of our readers.  Since most of the text material is familiar, I am appending at the end a number of historical images from our archives that you may not have seen before… Studying creation is a time-honored way of coming closer to God. In the opening chapter of his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul points out that, since the beginning of … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: July 11, 1910 – Emily Dobbin

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This entry is part 18 of 65 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from July 11, 1910, when Emily Dobbin made a visit. Next to her name, Emily Elisabeth Dobbin (1875-1949) wrote, “Inst. Math & Surveying, M.A.H.S., St. Paul, Minn.” (Instructor of Mathematics and Surveying, Mechanic Arts High School, St. Paul MN) Dobbin was trained as an astronomer, receiving a masters’ degree from the University of Chicago in 1903. She worked at Yerkes Observatory, resulting in two single-authored publications (one on the orbit of the Jovian satellite Amalthea and another on Orion-type stars). However, her astronomical career never really progressed past that point. She taught mathematics, first at the University of Missouri, and then at a high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dobbin is particularly notable for her work in an entirely different field: that of … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: October 11, 1909 – Eduard Study

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This entry is part 7 of 65 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from October 11, 1909, when Eduard Study made a visit. Next to his name, Christian Hugo Eduard Study (1862-1930) wrote “Bonn a. Rh. Argelanderstr. 126” (Bonn am Rhein, Argelanderstraße 126).  He signed the guestbook again on April 10 of the following year. Eduard Study was a mathematician who made significant contributions in the field.  At the time of his visit, he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn. His contributions include the associative algebra of dual quaternions, kinematics, hypercomplex numbers, and, pertaining to quantum chemistry, a theory governing the coupling of angular momenta (that also applied to electron spin couplings). At least two mathematical concepts bear his name: Study quaternions (aka semiquaternions) and the Fubini-Study metric.  

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Please Welcome our new Blogger: Chris Olsen

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Chris Olsen has a degree in history, and is a student of 19th-century photography and science. Chris does daguerreotypes and wet plate collodion, which are the two first photographic processes that were commercially successful. Chris works as an operator at Fermi National Accelerator Lab; this offers him the very special privilege of taking his camera equipment into the accelerator complex and using this 150-year-old process to take pictures of it. Chris also does backstage concert photography and takes pictures of Civil War reenactors. Chris uses his own 19th-century equipment, and gives these photographs to the Civil War reenactors as gifts. Chris will be writing a series about 19th century solar observation, and recreating the instruments used during that period. Chris has started researching the English scientist and astronomer Norman Lockyer; during the next total solar eclipse, Chris hopes to “discover” the element helium using the spectrometer he built.  

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Happy Birthday to the Father of Astrophysics!

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Father Angelo Secchi, sometimes called the Father of Astrophysics, was born 200 years ago on this day (June 28). [Note that many sources get his birthday wrong, thinking it was the 29th. He was born on the 28th, baptized on the 29th, according to his biographer Dr. Ileana Chinnici, who’s seen the documents in question. Also many sources think that he had a first name beginning with a P, often listed as Pietro, because he was often referred to as “P. Angelo Secchi” but in fact the P there stands for Padre, signifying that he was a priest.] Secchi’s work at the Roman College attracted great positive attention the science and the Church at a time when both were under attack… and probably led to the foundation of the Vatican Observatory a few years after his death in 1879. Father Chris Corbally has written a short piece about him which is running in the American Astronomical Society’s This Month in … Continue reading →

Let’s Go To The Moon – Apollo 11 new drawing workshop

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Recently I was invited to do two workshops at St Columba’s College in Dublin.  I decided to launch my new workshop  for 2018/2019 entitled, Let’s Go To The Moon –  Apollo 11 . The college was founded in 1843. The architecture is a cross-pollination of Victorian , Georgian and 21st century on a 140 acre setting on the slopes of the Dublin mountains. The day I visited the grounds were acutely swaddled  in snow,adding to the rich atmosphere of the place and its history. The phrase deep and crisp and even echoed in my head. My workshops were part of the college Arts Week 2018. Attending were a mixture of primary school and first year second level pupils. The sessions took place in the beautiful new science building fully equipped for exploring the moon landing through drawing. The room has a lovely new 8 inch dob, which the science teacher will use to share the moon and other night time … Continue reading →

Endeavour Space Academy

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I cannot remember a time when I haven’t been fascinated with astronomy, the space program, and science fiction. I was a child during the Apollo era, and a young man when the original COSMOS first aired. I cut my teeth on Star Trek, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Larry Niven; Carl Sagan was, and remains to this day, my personal hero. Now that I think about it, I started doing astronomy outreach the moment I got my first cheap telescope in 1968; I showed the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn to the neighbors, and took it with me to summer camp. I had one of those really scary green glass eyepiece solar filters – that got used a lot more than I like to think about! My wife gave me an 8″ Dobsonian telescope for my 40th birthday, that came with a not-scary-at-all solar filter; that telescope has seen a LOT of use in 16 years – so much so, it’s … Continue reading →

Happy Hundredth, Mildred!

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This entry is part 18 of 61 in the series Diary

I got an email from my friend (and fellow planetary scientist) Rick Binzel: “I just learned that Mildred Shapley Matthews (the lovable taskmaster and technical editor who drove the Space Science Series forward for decades) recently celebrated her 100th birthday.” Funny thing was, I was just telling someone about Mildred earlier that day. She was the editor of the University of Arizona Space Science series of books for many years. In fact, she edited my very first paper – a chapter in the Jupiter book – and did a fantastic job, making my prose much better and clearer. She was also the very first person I ever met at the University of Arizona. I arrived late on a Saturday night for the Jupiter conference that was about to begin (this was May, 1975) and, seeing that there would be a walking trip up Sabino Canyon on Sunday morning, I managed to find the ride and met her on the trail. She … Continue reading →

Aurorae and a Possible Saint

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The most recent issue of the Jesuit e-News (the electronic replacement for the National Jesuit News paper) contained a fascinating little note about the beginnings of a movement to begin the process of sainthood for Black Elk, the famous Lakota holy man: A New Native American Saint? Native American laypeople along with Jesuit, diocesan and Episcopalian clergy recently met at Marquette University to discuss furthering the canonization process for the great Lakota (Sioux) holy man and lay catechist, Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950). Baptized in 1904 by German-born Father Joseph Lindebner, SJ, Black Elk was a revered catechist among his people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. However, his Catholic identity was not known until 1994 when Jesuit anthropologist Father Michael Steltenkamp wrote “Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala.” Jesuits in Native American ministry hope Black Elk’s canonization will follow that of Kateri Tekakwitha, named the first Native American saint in 2012. A petition calling for Black Elk’s … Continue reading →

History of Light Pollution

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I gave a lecture about Light Pollution to the Michigan Electrical Contractors Association (MECA1953) on Monday March 16, 2015. I wanted to show how Light Pollution started, and has grown over time. The beginning of my lecture evolved into a “short history of humans using light”  – I learned quite a bit while doing the research for this lecture. I started the lecture out out with the image above, and asked “How many of you have gone up north, and seen this?” Of the 17 people there, only 3 raised their hands. I proceeded to talk about how humans started using light: – The Moon and stars. – Fire. (Stealthily, or cowardly, avoiding any mention of how long ago “Ancient Times” was…) – Torches. (See fire) – Oil lamps. (4500 BC) – Candles. (3000 BC) – The first street lights. (1000 AD) (Oil lamps) – The Papacy actively supporting astronomy research in the 18th century, and building: — The Observatory … Continue reading →