*************************************************************************** * * * ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER FOR THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY * * * * Published by the Working Group for the History of Astronomy * * in the Astronomische Gesellschaft * * * * Number 53, November 17, 2003 * * * * Edited by: Wolfgang R. Dick and Hilmar W. Duerbeck * * * *************************************************************************** Contents -------- 1. The Society for the History of Astronomy 2. David A. King: New website on medieval astronomical instruments 3. International Conference: Zdenek Kopal's Binary Star Legacy 4. XXIII Scientific Instrument Symposium Acknowledgement Imprint ........................................................................... Item 1 ENHA No. 53, Nov. 17, 2003 ........................................................................... The Society for the History of Astronomy ---------------------------------------- As 2003 begins to wind down, the Society for the History of Astronomy is looking back on a time of worthwhile progress and significant achievements. Founded on June 29, 2002 at Wadham College, Oxford, by Stuart Williams, FRAS and well-known astronomy historian Dr. Allan Chapman of Wadham College, with the able assistance of Ken Goward, FRAS, the UK's new national society for the history of our great science has already passed a few milestones in its short but memorable history! The SHA's first Council was elected at the Founding Meeting, and consisted of Chair Emily Winterburn, Secretary Stuart Williams, FRAS, Treasurer Ken Goward, FRAS, and Councillors Roger Jones, Kevin Kilburn, FRAS and Dr. Nick Kollerstrom. Honorary Councillors Hon. President Dr. Allan Chapman and Hon. Vice Presidents Sir Patrick Moore and Dr. Michael Hoskin were appointed shortly thereafter. The Society began in earnest by setting up an Archive at the Library of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, under the supervision of Institute Librarian and SHA member, now Archivist, Mark Hurn. In parallel with this, a Members' Lending Library was founded by professional Librarian Madeline Cox, FRAS. Both have gone from strength to strength in following months and will be developed in 2004. A Newsletter and Website were created by Callum Potter, the Society's Editor, both essential tools of communication and outreach to SHA members and the public, especially as 90% of SHA members use email. The Newsletter will continue to be developed in 2004 by a new editorial team. Our outreach to local astronomical societies and the Regions was begun successfully by Kevin Kilburn, FRAS, of Manchester Astronomical Society, and has been strongly followed up by Martin Lunn, MBE, of Yorkshire Museum, who replaced Kevin on Council during summer 2003. The Society's Survey of the Astronomical Geography of the UK, a core element of its work, was swiftly set up by SHA Councillor Roger Jones with the assistance of Stuart Williams, FRAS. The Survey aims to reveal the depth of local history of astronomy in particular across the UK over coming months and years. The SHA held its first Members' Meeting on November 2, 2002 at Soho House in Handsworth, Birmingham, 18th century home of Matthew Boulton and The Lunar Society, where new discoveries by SHA member Andrew Lound relating to Boulton's astronomy and his connections with William Herschel were revealed for the first time. Reaching more than a hundred members across the UK and beyond by the end of the year, the SHA went on to hold its historic first AGM & Conference on February 22, 2003 at the old Royal Observatory Greenwich and National Maritime Museum in February. The Conference provided the first opportunity for Members' research papers to be presented and saw the formal launch of the SHA Survey. As a matter of principle, the Society makes its meetings accessible nationwide, and in 2004 the AGM & Conference moves to the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, heading further north in 2005. The Society was delighted to be invited to organise Session 51: History of Astronomy, at the National Astronomy Meeting in Dublin on April 10, 2003. This successful session, chaired by SHA Chair Emily Winterburn, Curator of Astronomy at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and co-organised by SHA Secretary Stuart Williams, FRAS, set the tone for future such sessions and the SHA has been invited to do the same at NAM 2004, being held at the Open University in Milton Keynes. A fine social event was held on July 5, 2003 with the SHA's first Annual Picnic, returning to the home of its founding at Wadham College, Oxford. Future Annual Picnics, celebrating the founding, will alternately tour the UK, with the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, Woolsthorpe Manor, being the venue proposed for 2004, and the Picnic will return to Wadham College in 2005. The SHA has made a point of participating in events dedicated to 'grass roots' astronomy, and has fielded stands at the British Astronomical Association Exhibition Meetings, Federation of Astronomical Societies Conferences, Leeds AstroMeets and Orwell Astronomical Society events since its foundation, now with a spectacular new 'Baroque' display, complete with William Herschel organ music! These public appearances will continue in similar vein and we look forward to making many more new friends around the UK as a result. National Astronomy Week 2003 was very enjoyable for the SHA. The Society was particularly pleased to be invited to organise a morning Open Session at the Centenary Astro Day of Manchester Astronomical Society on August 30, following lectures organised jointly with The Planetary Society at Soho House, Handsworth, the previous weekend. The Open Session of talks and presentations by SHA members provided a wonderful opportunity to prove the SHA's commitment to the Regions and the chance for SHA members to meet like-minded friends from the historic Manchester AS and the rest of the north of England. It was also the occasion of the official Public Launch of the SHA Survey and its online presence on the SHA website. Finally, the SHA ends the year with a special visit of the SHA Council and guests to the Royal Astronomical Society Library at Burlington House in December. We aim to foster cordial relations with the RAS at all times, as well as the other national, regional and local groups. We have already affiliated to the British Astronomical Association, and will in future be maintaining a working relationship with the Historical Section of the BAA. We would welcome contact with any group with which we have common interests, and new members of course continue to be welcome. The Society for the History of Astronomy does not plan to rest on its laurels. There is much to do in 2004, which will see the launch of our annual journal 'The Antiquarian Astronomer' under the Editorship of Callum Potter. We will continue to tour the UK and proceed apace with our national Survey, the first of its kind in the history of astronomy. We exist to help preserve astronomy's history for posterity, and look to the future with great anticipation and enthusiasm. CONTACT: Stuart Williams, FRAS, Secretary, SHA, 26 Matlock Road, Bloxwich, WS3 3QD, UK (please enclose a stamped s.a.e. if a reply is required). Email: secretary@shastro.org.uk Website: www.shastro.org.uk [Source: Society for the History of Astronomy, Press Release, 6 October 2003] ........................................................................... Item 2 ENHA No. 53, Nov. 17, 2003 ........................................................................... New website on medieval astronomical instruments ------------------------------------------------ By David A. King, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (From: "Elektronische Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte" Nr. 64, 9. Nov. 2003, Item 6.) 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 highly-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 a 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] ........................................................................... Item 3 ENHA No. 53, Nov. 17, 2003 ........................................................................... International Conference: Zdenek Kopal's Binary Star Legacy ----------------------------------------------------------- First Announcement of an International Conference: ZDENEK KOPAL'S BINARY STAR LEGACY Litomysl, Bohemia, Czech Republic 31 March to 3 April 2004 On the occasion of the 90th birthday of late Professor Zdenek Kopal a conference will be held from March 31 to April 3, 2004 in the estates of the castle of the Bohemian town of Litomysl, where Zdenek Kopal was born. MEETING ORGANIZERS * Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague * Astronomical Institute of Academy of Science, Ondrejov * Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno * B.R.N.O. - Variable Star Section of the Czech Astronomical Society The international conference is especially dedicated to remind the achievements of a great astronomer, but will also aim at more general aspects of contemporary binary star astronomy. PROGRAM TOPICS: 1. Introductory session - Appreciation of Kopal's work - Reminiscences and fellows' views of a great astronomer 2. Binary star morphology 3. Mathematical physics and numerical modelling INVITED SPEAKERS of the Introductory Session (preliminary list): 1. Introductory Session A. Batten: Digging Foundations for the Royal Road E. Budding: A fellow's view of Kopal's royal road to binary stars A. M. Cherepashchuk: Atmospheric Eclipses in Wolf-Rayet Binaries: from Kopal and Shapley to Present Days M. Kitamura: Reminiscences of a Japanese contemporary (For invited speakers of the other sessions see the web site indicated below.) SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (SOC): Alan Batten Dominion Astrophysics Observatory, Victoria, Canada Dmitrij V. Bisikalo Inst. of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Edwin Budding CIT/Carter Observatory, Wellington, New Zealand Osman Demircan Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Turkey Horst Drechsel (chair) Dr. Remeis Observatory, Astron. Institute, Univ. Erlangen-Nuernberg, Bamberg, Germany Petr Hadrava Astron. Institute Ondrejov, Academy of Sciences of CZ Pavel Mayer Astronomical Institute, Charles University, Prague, CZ Zdenek Mikulasek Inst. of Theoretical Physics and Astrophys., Masaryk University, Brno, CZ Izold Pustylnik Tartu Observatory, Estonia Nikolaj N. Samus Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences; Sternberg Astronomical Inst., Moscow, Russia Dimitar Sasselov Harvard University, Dept. of Astronomy, USA Augustin Skopal Astron. Institute, Tatranska Lomnica, Academy of Sciences, Slovak Republic Robert Wilson Astronomy Dept., University of Florida, USA Marek Wolf Astronomical Institute, Charles University, Prague, CZ Miloslav Zejda N. Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, Brno, CZ LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (LOC): Miloslav Zejda (chair), Miroslav Broz, Petr Hajek, Ondrej Pejcha (BRNO-VSS), Eva Piknova, Michaela Severova (Litomysl), Jan Janik (FS MU) The organizers can look back to a more than 40 years lasting period of continued observational and publication activities in the field of variable star research, on an almost equally long tradition of holding national conferences (mainly in Brno), and a 20 years history of international contacts. While previous variable star meetings were held at Brno Planetarium, this conference in honour of Prof. Kopal will exceptionally take place at the castle of the marvelous Bohemian town of Litomysl, Kopal's birth place. The organizers hope that the meeting will not only help to remind Zdenek Kopal as an esteemed colleague and outstanding astronomer, but will also serve to present new aspects and trends in binary star research and as a forum for discussion among astronomers from many countries. CONTACT ADDRESS: M. Zejda: N. Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, Kravi hora 2, 61600 Brno, CZ Phone: 420 541321287, fax 420 541233389 WWW: http://var.astro.cz/kopal E-mail: H. Drechsel (SOC): drechsel@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de M. Zejda (LOC): zejda@hvezdarna.cz DEADLINES: Early registration: 15 February 2004 Late registration: 15 March 2004 Abstracts: 29 February 2004 Proceedings: 1 October 2004 MEETING SITE: The East Bohemian town of Litomysl emerged in the 13th century on the site of an older fortified settlement on the Trstenice path - an important trading route linking Bohemia and Moravia. The dominant feature of Litomysl is the monumental Renaissance castle dating from the years 1568-1581. The buildings of the castle precincts are not only exceptional for their architectural refinement, but have also inscribed themselves in history as the birth place of the Czech national composer, Bedrich Smetana. On the elongated square, which is one of the largest in the Czech Republic, a town hall of Gothic origin and a series of Renaissance and baroque houses are found, many of them with arcades and vaulted groundfloor rooms. One of the most important of these is the House At the Knights (U Rytiru) with its remarkable facade. In the past the town was also a significant religious centre; it was in Litomysl in 1344 that the second bishopric to be established in Bohemia was founded. The cultural traditions of the town go much beyond regional and national frontiers. The exquisite interiors of the castle, especially the baroque castle theatre, the amphitheatre in the castle park and Smetanas' house, all offer varied programmes of concerts and theatrical performances and thus enrich the life of the town throughout the year. Litomysl came to public notice in a political context as well: in 1994 the meeting of the seven Central European presidents took place at the castle, and in 1995 the Spanish royal couple visited the town. The chateau complex was included in the UNESCO list of cultural monuments 1999. Litomysl was awarded the title "Historical town of the year 2000". (for more information see www.litomysl.cz) PAPERS: Working language is English. The Proceedings will be published as a special issue of the Kluwer journal Astrophysics & Space Science, which was founded by Kopal. If you are interested in presenting a paper please submit your abstract before February 29, 2004. Abstracts received after this deadline will not be included in the booklet of abstracts to be distributed at the beginning of the conference. REGISTRATION: The registration fee is 130 EUR, late registration fee 160 EUR, and reduced fee for accompanying person is 35 EUR. The full registration fee includes coffee, admission to party, excursion, concert, abstract booklet, and a copy of the proceedings. The reduced registration fee will only cover admission to conference sessions and concert, and coffee. Early registration deadline is 15 February 2004. The ultimate deadline for acceptance of conference applications will be March 15. FINANCIAL SUPPORT: The organisers have only very limited possibility to support a few participants. We will do our best to help you in any respect if necessary. You can send your request to the LOC. TRAVEL INFORMATION: Litomysl is located 150 km away from Prague, 85 km from Brno, 50 km from Hradec Kralove. You can use busses from Prague or Brno or (international) trains to Ceska Trebova, and from there local trains or busses to Litomysl. For a map of the Czech Republic see http://www.mapy.cz . We look forward to meeting you in Litomysl in Spring 2004. Miloslav Zejda Horst Drechsel chairperson of LOC chairperson of SOC Other events: Saturday-Sunday Congress of the Czech Astronomical Society 3-4-Apr Public lessons Sunday 11:00 Unveiling of a tablet at Kopal's house 4-Apr More information and a Conference Application Form are available at http://var.astro.cz/kopal [Source: http://var.astro.cz/kopal/announce.txt, abbreviated here] ........................................................................... Item 4 ENHA No. 53, Nov. 17, 2003 ........................................................................... XXIII Scientific Instrument Symposium ------------------------------------- The XXIII Scientific Instrument Symposium (SIS 2004) of the International Union of the History of Science will be held in Dresden, capital of the State of Saxony, Germany, September 6 - 11, 2004. Registration will take place in the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (MPS) in the Baroque Zwinger, and the conference sessions will be held in the re-built Palace and in the city's Technical Collections. The symposium hotel is located within a ten-minutes' walk from the Zwinger, the Palace, and the historic city center. Coffee and tea as well as arrangements for lunch will be provided. The symposium is open for all studies touching on historic scientific instruments. SIC members are invited to organize sessions on particular themes. The following proposals for sessions have been received: - Suzanne Debarbat: Instruments for Weights and Measures (e-mail: suzanne.debarbat@obspm.fr) - Roland Wittje: Acoustics: On the Threshhold Between Scientific and Musical Instruments (working title) (e-mail: roland.wittje@phys.ntnu.no) - Peter Plassmeyer: Central European Instruments of the 16th-18th Centuries (e-mail: peterplassmeyer@web.de) - Sven Dupre and Michael Korey, Scientific Instruments in Kunstkammer and Court Collections (e-mail: m.korey@web.de and sven.dupre@ugent.be) Preliminary Program: Monday, Sept. 6th Afternoon: Registration, reception, and exclusive viewing in the MPS Tuesday, Sept. 7th Morning and Afternoon: Sessions Wednesday, Sept. 8th Morning and Afternoon: Sessions, Poster session Thursday, Sept. 9th Morning: Viewing of the Dresden university collections Afternoon: Sessions 17:00 Plenary meeting SIC 19:00 Conference Dinner (Steamboat cruise on the Elbe River to the summer palace at Pillnitz) Friday, Sept. 10th Excursions to severals significant (and largely unknown) collections in Saxony are planned, including Freiberg and Waldenburg, Goerlitz and Bautzen. (Details will appear on the registration form.) Saturday, Sept. 11th Morning: Sessions possible All day: A visit to several museums in Dresden is planned, including the Gruenes Gewoelbe, the Ruestkammer, and the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum. (Details to be provided.) Contact address: SIS 2004 Dresden State Art Collections Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon Zwinger D-01067 Dresden, Germany TEL. +49 (0) 351 4914 -661 FAX. +49 (0) 351 4914 -666 e-mail: info@sis2004-dresden.de More information: http://www.sis2004-dresden.de http://www.dresden.de http://www.skd-dresden.de [Source: http://www.sis2004-dresden.de] ........................................................................... Acknowledgements ---------------- For directly sending us information we thank Stuart Williams. ........................................................................... Imprint ------- Electronic Newsletter for the History of Astronomy (ENHA) Published by the Working Group for the History of Astronomy in the Astronomische Gesellschaft Editors: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick and Dr. Hilmar W. Duerbeck All items without an author's name are editorial contributions. Articles as well as information for the several sections are appreciated. Subscription for ENHA is free. Readers and subscribers are asked for occasional voluntary donations to the working group. Copyright Statement: The Electronic Newsletters for the History of Astronomy may be freely re-distributed in the case that no charge is imposed. Public offer in WWW servers, BBS etc. is allowed after the editor has been informed. Non-commercial reproduction of single items in electronic or printed media is possible only with the editor's permission. Archives: Previous issues of ENHA may be found at http://www.astrohist.org/aa/enha/ . Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte / Working Group for the History of Astronomy: URL: http://www.astrohist.org/ Chairman: Prof. Dr. Peter Brosche, Observatorium Hoher List der Sternwarte der Universitaet Bonn, D-54550 Daun, Germany, Tel.: +49(0)6592 2150, Fax: +49(0)6592 985140 Secretary: Dr. Wolfgang R. Dick, Vogelsang 35 A, D-14478 Potsdam, Germany, e-mail: wdick@astrohist.org Bank Acct. of the Astronomische Gesellschaft: Acct # 310 330 402, Volksbank Coesfeld-Duelmen (BLZ 401 631 23) Contributions from foreign countries: acct # 162 18-203, Postbank Hamburg, BLZ 200 100 20 Please sign with: "Fuer Arbeitskreis Astronomiegeschichte" ***************************************************************************