Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 19:39
Review Rating:
8
Writing a book about astronomy is always a minefield. Make it too specialist and you can come over all Stephen Hawking - not a bad thing by any stretch, but unlikely to garner much mass appeal. Make it too broad, however, and your work can end up little more than a kids' book. Yet when Paul Murdin, a Royal Astronomical Society fellow, former president of the European Astronomical Society and world-renowned professor of astronomy, put pen to paper on Secrets of the Universe, he managed to create something as accessible as it is brimming with the discoveries that have made man understand the stars a little better.
Though 'condensed' isn't usually the term for a book registering 340 pages, Secrets packs the gamut of human discovery into its stunning pages. From the first Ishango Bones of prehistoric man - notched bones from equatorial Africa marking the moon's phases - right up to our modern penchants for little green men and dark matter, Murdin covers discoveries both chronologically and thematically.
The Yorkshire Museum in York, England, was established in 1830, covering themes of archaeology, astronomy, biology and geology. It is also the home to the 1,000 year old Cawood sword, which is regarded as one of the finest Viking swords ever discovered. The Museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosphical Society to accommodate their geological and archaeological collections.
The Yorkshire Museum re-opens on 1 August 2010 after a large refurbishment project which will extend the Museum to hold five new themed galleries displaying some of Britain's finest archaeological treasures, rare animals, birds and fossils.
Submitted by Meral Crifasi on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 12:53
Our Ancient World in London series consists of events in London, virtual quests and online events. Our first-ever lecture series started yesterday with famed astronomy writer Paul Murdin. Paul started the lecture based on his latest book Secrets of The Universe, which explains how man has discovered the cosmos: it's is a very popular topic which interests many of us in all levels.
Join Heritage Key and famed astronomy writer Paul Murdin at a cool London restaurant this Wednesday at 6:30pm, as the Secrets of the Universe author gives a special presentation on how ancient civilisations and British astronomers have discovered the cosmos.
The talk, entitled 'Unlocking the Wonders of Astronomy', will show how man's obsession with the heavens has endured for thousands of years, from the first cities of Sumer to the technological breakthroughs of today's most powerful nations. The presentation will be held at Cicada, a hip restaurant in the heart of the City of London.
The presentation therefore promises to be a mouth-watering combination of fascinating insights and spectacular images, as he brings millennia of human endeavour to a wholly modern audience. We'll even be filming the event, so come along and be a part of our Ancient World in London series. You might even be our next big star!
Submitted by Sean Williams on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 16:36
Want to star in an Ancient World in London video, and learn about the stars at the same time? Then join Heritage Key and famed astronomy writer Paul Murdin at a cool London restaurant this Wednesday at 6:30pm, as the Secrets of the Universe author gives a special presentation on how ancient civilisations and British astronomers have discovered the cosmos.
The talk, entitled 'Unlocking the Wonders of Astronomy', will show how man's obsession with the heavens has endured for thousands of years, from the first cities of Sumer to the technological breakthroughs of today's most powerful nations. The presentation will be held at Cicada, a hip restaurant in the heart of the City of London.
Seti I's reign over Egypt is thought to have lasted between 13 to 20 years, and during this time he opened the kingdom up to trade with foreign nations and committed to the development of construction projects. This led to stability which united the country after the fragile rule of the previous Amarna kings. The sheer number and scale of building projects that Seti I oversaw during his reign would go on to be one of the greatest artistic periods in Egyptian history. One of Seti I's major accomplishment of the era was the completion of the Great Temple of Abydos, known also as the Temple of Seti as regarded as one of the finest temples built in Egypt.
Chankillo is the site for the earliest known observatory in the Americas.
Chankillo is an ancient fortified complex located in Peru. 13 towers were built at the site and date back to more than 2,300 years ago.
Chankillo's history is still a mystery. But new findings suggest that the towers were the earliest known astronomical observatory in the Americas. The towers are spaced from each other north to south, forming a long crest along the middle of the site. Researchers have studied the towers and found that their positions correspond with the rising and setting of the sun. By viewing the towers from observation posts found on the site, one could accurately determine the date within a variance of 2 to 3 days. These findings show that Chankillo people probably used the observatory to schedule events like farming and rituals.
This finding came in 2007, and since then the site has been drawing unsupervised tourists to the area. But Chankillo could become more tightly regulated in the future with efforts underway to preserve the site and adequately turn it into a tourist attraction.
Hypatia was a 4th and 5th century AD philosopher, mathematician, astrologer and scientist, and one of the most famous female intellectuals in history.
She was born in Alexandria, Egypt around 350 AD, the daughter of Theon, who was the curator of the Museum of Alexandria, an important seat of learning in the Roman Empire. Theon schooled Hypatia as his star pupil from a young age, and she demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for maths, philosophy, astronomy and technological sciences. After travelling to Athens and Italy to further her studies, she returned to Alexandria, where she became a highly-respected teacher, lecturer, writer and inventor. She penned many well-thought-of commentaries in collaboration with her father, and was appointed Director of the Neoplatonist School of Alexandria in 400 AD. Hypatia was by all accounts (although few of them survive) extremely beautiful, and had many suitors from the great and good of Alexandria society, but she rejected them all, and reportedly remained chaste throughout her life.
