Investigating Art History And Literature With Astronomy

Author : Donald W. Olson
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2022-03-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783030955540

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Investigating Art, History, and Literature with Astronomy by Donald W. Olson Pdf

How can shadows determine the date and time of a painting by Johannes Vermeer? How did the Moon and tides cause the loss of King John’s crown jewels? In his newest book, Professor Olson, author of Celestial Sleuth and Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth, explores how astronomical clues can uncover fascinating new details about art, history, and literature. He begins with an accessible introduction to amateur “celestial sleuthing,” showing how to use your astronomical knowledge, software, archives, vintage maps, historical letters and diaries, military records, and other resources to investigate the past. Follow along as Professor Olson then explores twenty real-world cases where astronomy has helped answer unresolved questions or correct longstanding interpretations about an event. Examples involve artists such as Vermeer, Monet, and O’Keeffe; the historical exploits of Alexander the Great, the desert travels of the Death Valley ’49ers, and a meeting between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Marrakech; and literary works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Longfellow. Packed with dozens of full-color illustrations, this book will enrich your knowledge of the past and equip you with all the tools you’ll need to become a celestial sleuth yourself. “Many people have a passion for art, or world history, or great literature, or even astronomy — but seldom in all these things at once. This remarkable book by Donald Olson of Texas State University will put you in touch with such seemingly unrelated endeavors. It will open your eyes and broaden your mind as little else could.” Roger W. Sinnott, Sky & Telescope

Author : Donald W. Olson
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2013-10-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781461484035

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Celestial Sleuth by Donald W. Olson Pdf

For a general audience interested in solving mysteries in art, history, and literature using the methods of science, 'forensic astronomy' is a thrilling new field of exploration. Astronomical calculations are the basis of the studies, which have the advantage of bringing to readers both evocative images and a better understanding of the skies. Weather facts, volcano studies, topography, tides, historical letters and diaries, famous paintings, military records, and the friendly assistance of experts in related fields add variety, depth, and interest to the work. The chosen topics are selected for their wide public recognition and intrigue, involving artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, and Ansel Adams; historical events such as the Battle of Marathon, the death of Julius Caesar, the American Revolution, and World War II; and literary authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Joyce, and Mary Shelley. This book sets out to answer these mysteries indicated with the means and expertise of astronomy, opening the door to a richer experience of human culture and its relationship with nature. Each subject is carefully analyzed. As an example using the study of sky paintings by Vincent van Gogh, the analytical method would include: - computer calculations of historical skies above France in the 19th century - finding and quoting the clues found in translations of original letters by Van Gogh - making site visits to France to determine the precise locations when Van Gogh set up his easel and what celestial objects are depicted. For each historical event influenced by astronomy, there would be a different kind of mystery to be solved. As an example: - How can the phase of the Moon and time of moonrise help to explain a turning point of the American Civil War - the fatal wounding of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville in 1863? For each literary reference to astronomy, it was determined which celestial objects were being described and making an argument that the author is describing an actual event. For example, what was the date of the moonlit scene when Mary Shelley first had the idea for her novel “Frankenstein?” These and more fun riddles will enchant and delight the fan of art and astronomy.

Author : Donald W. Olson
Publisher : Springer
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2018-01-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319703206

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Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth by Donald W. Olson Pdf

From the author of "Celestial Sleuth" (2014), yet more mysteries in art, history, and literature are solved by calculating phases of the Moon, determining the positions of the planets and stars, and identifying celestial objects in paintings. In addition to helping to crack difficult cases, these studies spark our imagination and provide a better understanding of the skies. Weather archives, vintage maps, tides, historical letters and diaries, military records and the assistance of experts in related fields help with this work. For each historical event influenced by astronomy, there is a different kind of mystery to be solved. How did the changing tides affect an army's battle plans? How did the phases of the moon affect how an artist painted a landscape? Follow these exciting investigations with a master “celestial sleuth” as he tracks down the truth and helps unravel mysteries as far back as the Middle Ages and as recent as the iconic 1945 photograph of a kiss in Times Square on VJ Day. Topics or "cases" pursued were chosen for their wide public recognition and intrigue and involve artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet; historical events such as the campaigns of Braveheart in Scotland and battles in World War II and the Korean War; and literary authors such as Chaucer, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Byron, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Author : Marion Dolan
Publisher : Springer
Page : 482 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319567846

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Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts by Marion Dolan Pdf

This carefully researched monograph is a historical investigation of the illustrated Aratea astronomical manuscript and its many interpretations over the centuries. Aratus' 270 B.C.E. Greek poem describing the constellations and astrological phenomena was translated and copied over 800 years into illuminated manuscripts that preserved and illustrated these ancient stories about the constellations. The Aratea survives in its entirety due to multiple translations from Greek to Latin and even to Arabic, with many illuminated versions being commissioned over the ages. The survey encompasses four interrelated disciplines: history of literature, history of myth, history of science, and history of art. Aratea manuscripts by their nature are a meeting place of these distinct branches, and the culling of information from historical literature and from the manuscripts themselves focuses on a wider, holistic view; a narrow approach could not provide a proper prospective. What is most essential to know about this work is that because of its successive incarnations it has survived and been reinterpreted through the centuries, which speaks to its importance in all of these disciplines. This book brings a better understanding of the history, changes and transmission of the original astronomical Phaenomena poem. Historians, art historians, astronomy lovers, and historians of astronomy will learn more specialized details concerning the Aratea and how the tradition survived from the Middle Ages. It is a credit to the poetry of Aratus and the later interpreters of the text that its pagan aspects were not edited nor removed, but respected and maintained in the exact same form despite the fact that all sixty Aratea manuscripts mentioned in this study were produced under the rule of Christianity.

Author : Kirsten A. Hoving
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Art
ISBN : UOM:39015082671168

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Joseph Cornell and Astronomy by Kirsten A. Hoving Pdf

Joseph Cornell and Astronomy provides an in-depth look at one artist's intense fascination with the science of astronomy. Joseph Cornell (1903-72) has often been viewed as a recluse, isolated in his home on Utopia Parkway, lost in the fairy tales and charming objects of his collages and assemblage boxes. Less commonly known has been Cornell's vested and serious interest in the history of astronomy and the cutting-edge discoveries made during his own lifetime. An avid reader, he amassed a library of books and articles about science and astronomy, and his reflections about these subjects had a direct impact on his art. This book explores why astronomy captivated Cornell, and considers hundreds of his works--found-footage films, three-dimensional space-object boxes, enigmatic collages, and cosmic ephemera--that contain references to astronomical phenomena. Kirsten Hoving considers Cornell's enormous collection of astronomy materials, ranging from eighteenth-century books to recent works; newspaper and magazine articles that Cornell clipped and sorted; and diary entries of his observations while stargazing in his backyard. She examines how Cornell explored many dimensions of astronomy through his identities as a Christian Scientist and surrealist artist. Unfolding Cornell's work with depth and breadth, Joseph Cornell and Astronomy offers a convincing and original appreciation of this intriguing American artist.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 734 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 1860
Category : Electronic
ISBN : IBNN:BN000643862

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Egypt's Place in Universal History: an Historical Investigation in Five Books Christian C. J. Bunsen by Anonim Pdf

Author : Eileen Reeves
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Art
ISBN : 0691009767

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Painting the Heavens by Eileen Reeves Pdf

The remarkable astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with the new telescope in 1609-10 led to his famous disputes with philosophers and religious authorities, most of whom found their doctrines threatened by his evidence for Copernicus's heliocentric universe. In this book, Eileen Reeves brings an art historical perspective to this story as she explores the impact of Galileo's heavenly observations on painters of the early seventeenth century. Many seventeenth-century painters turned to astronomical pastimes and to the depiction of new discoveries in their work, yet some of these findings imposed controversial changes in their use of religious iconography. For example, Galileo's discovery of the moon's rough topography and the reasons behind its "secondary light" meant rethinking the imagery surrounding the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception, which had long been represented in paintings by the appearance of a smooth, incandescent moon. By examining a group of paintings by early modern artists all interested in Galileo's evidence for a Copernican system, Reeves not only traces the influence of science on painting in terms of optics and content, but also reveals the painters in a conflict between artistic depiction and dogmatic representation. Reeves offers a close analysis of seven works by Lodovico Cigoli, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Pacheco, and Diego Velázquez. She places these artists at the center of the astronomical debate, showing that both before and after the invention of the telescope, the proper evaluation of phenomena such as moon spots and the aurora borealis was commonly considered the province of the painter. Because these scientific hypotheses were complicated by their connection to Catholic doctrine, Reeves examines how the relationship between science and art, and their mutual production of knowledge and authority, must themselves be seen in a broader context of theological and political struggle.

Author : John C. Barentine
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2021-09-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783030727154

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Mystery of the Ashen Light of Venus by John C. Barentine Pdf

The “Ashen Light” of Venus—a ghostly emission of light from the night side of our nearest planetary neighbor—is among the last unsolved mysteries of astronomical history. In the four centuries since the phenomenon was first reported, highly reputable visual observers of Venus have recorded seeing the Ashen Light, while others have spent a lifetime searching for it without once being convinced that they ever saw it. Is the Ashen Light a trick of the eye? The result of a defective lens? A real scientific event? Occasional references to the Ashen Light are scattered across the literature, yet no work to date has synthesized these records. This book therefore digs deep into the history of the mystery and our latest attempts to understand it, sifting through the clues that might explain whether it is caused by physics, is conjured up by the eye or brain, or a combination of both. This baffling story will appeal to amateur astronomers, hobbyists, and lay readers interested in joining the debate about one of the most elusive observable phenomena ever recorded in the night sky.

Author : Christian Carl Josias von Bunsen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 776 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 1854
Category : Electronic
ISBN : NLS:B000156723

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Egypt's place in universal history: an historical investigation, in five books by Christian Carl Josias von Bunsen Pdf

Author : Agnes M. Clerke
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 528 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2017-10-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 026617146X

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A Popular History of Astronomy by Agnes M. Clerke Pdf

Excerpt from A Popular History of Astronomy: During the Nineteenth Century The progress of astronomy during the last hundred years has been rapid and extraordinary. In its distinctive features, moreover, the nature of that progress has been such as to lend itself with facility to untechnical treatment. To this circumstance the present volume owes its origin. It embodies an attempt to enable the ordinary reader to follow, with intelligent interest, the course of modern astronomical inquiries, and to realize (so far as it can at present be realized) the full effect of the comprehensive change in the whole aspect, purposes, and methods of celestial science introduced by the momentous discovery of spectrum analysis. Since Professor Grant's invaluable work on the History of Physical Astronomy was published, a third of a century has elapsed. During the interval a so-called new astronomy has grown up by the side of the old. One effect of its advent has been to render the science of the heavenly bodies more popular, both in its needs and in its nature, than formerly. More popular in its needs, since its progress now primarily depends upon the interest in, and consequent efforts towards its advancement of the general public; more popular in its nature, because the kind of knowledge it now chiefly tends to accumulate is more easily intelligible - less remote from ordinary experience - than that evolved by the aid of the calculus from materials collected by the use of the transit-instrument and chrono graph. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author : Richard Pearson
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 718 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2024-05-20
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780244866501

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The History of Astronomy by Richard Pearson Pdf

Author : James Bird
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1848
Category : Electronic
ISBN : HARVARD:32044088715446

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A Discourse on the Object and Progress of Investigation, Into the Oriental Literature and Science by James Bird Pdf

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

Author : David H. Levy
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 138 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2011-04-30
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781441978141

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The Sky in Early Modern English Literature by David H. Levy Pdf

Astronomy is not just a subject unto itself. We all look at the sky, and it has always been a fertile source of guidance and inspiration in art, music, and literature. This book explores the sky’s appearances in music and art, but focuses most on the sky’s enormous presence in early modern English literature. The author concentrates on William Shakespeare, whose references to the sky far exceed the combined total of all his contemporaries. Venturing into the historical context of these references, the book teaches about the Supernovae of 1572 and 1604, the abundant comets of this period, eclipses, astrology and its relation to the night sky at the time, and the early years of the telescope and how the literature of the time relates to it. This book promises to open doors between two great fields of study by inspiring readers to look for their own connections between astronomy and literature, and by helping them to enjoy the night sky itself more completely.

Author : Agnes M. Clerke
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 610 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2015-06-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 1440053111

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A Popular History of Astronomy by Agnes M. Clerke Pdf

Excerpt from A Popular History of Astronomy: During the Nineteenth Century In preparing the Second Edition, much advantage has been derived from criticisms upon the first, some through the press, others most gratefully received by the author from persons of eminence and authority in science. Omissions have been supplied, errors have been corrected, and pains taken to render the work in every way more worthy of the cordial reception granted to it on its first appearance. Astronomical research has, in the short interval, made such rapid progress as to demand the addition of a considerable amount of new matter to the later Chapters, their growth illustrating, however imperfectly, the vitality of the science. The Index has also been enlarged, and a Chronological Table added for convenience of reference. By the great kindness of Mr. Common and the MM. Henry, to whom the author tenders her best acknowledgments for their courteous assistance, some striking specimens of celestial photography are presented in the form of a Frontispiece and Vignette. Beyond any mere ornamental effect, these beautiful autograph pictures have a scientific value and significance which time will but enhance. The process used in their reproduction is that of the Messrs. Woodbury. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author : George Boole
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 476 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1854
Category : Investigation
ISBN : STANFORD:36105004531070

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An Investigation of the Laws of Thought by George Boole Pdf