Slightly Off Topic: Adler Planetarium Lecture Announcement

If you live in Chicago, you might be interested in the following lecture to be given later this month:

------------------------------------------------------------
12th Annual Roderick S. Webster Memorial Lecture
"Greek Astronomers and the Ancient Public"~ ~
Speaker: Dr. Alexander Jones
Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York University

Wednesday, Sept 23, 2009
6:00 p.m.

Universe Theater
Adler Planetarium
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Between about 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., Greek astronomers learned how to explain and predict the appearances and motions of the heavenly bodies with remarkable precision. At the same time, they took great interest in explaining astronomy and its uses to the general public. In this lecture, Dr. Alexander Jones will talk about what these early astronomers thought the public should know about their science and why. Dr. Jones will illustrate the variety of approaches they used to convey their messages through words, pictures, numbers, and mechanical models.

Admission is free and open to the public. No registration is required. A reception will follow the lecture.

Sponsored by the Adler Planetarium and the Archaeological Institute of America: The Chicago Society
------------------------------------------------------------

Full disclosure: My wife works at the Adler Planetarium

Research Tidbit: Every intellectual historian, U.S. focused or otherwise, and every historian of science should know that the Adler holds collections on the history of astronomy.

Slightly Off Topic: Adler Planetarium Lecture Announcement

If you live in Chicago, you might be interested in the following lecture to be given later this month:

------------------------------------------------------------
12th Annual Roderick S. Webster Memorial Lecture
"Greek Astronomers and the Ancient Public"~ ~
Speaker: Dr. Alexander Jones
Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York University

Wednesday, Sept 23, 2009
6:00 p.m.

Universe Theater
Adler Planetarium
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Between about 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., Greek astronomers learned how to explain and predict the appearances and motions of the heavenly bodies with remarkable precision. At the same time, they took great interest in explaining astronomy and its uses to the general public. In this lecture, Dr. Alexander Jones will talk about what these early astronomers thought the public should know about their science and why. Dr. Jones will illustrate the variety of approaches they used to convey their messages through words, pictures, numbers, and mechanical models.

Admission is free and open to the public. No registration is required. A reception will follow the lecture.

Sponsored by the Adler Planetarium and the Archaeological Institute of America: The Chicago Society
------------------------------------------------------------

Full disclosure: My wife works at the Adler Planetarium

Research Tidbit: Every intellectual historian, U.S. focused or otherwise, and every historian of science should know that the Adler holds collections on the history of astronomy.

Slightly Off Topic: Government Intrusion Into Historiography

I just saw this. I love the universal applicability of the committee title: Commission to Counteract Attempts at Falsifying History to Damage the Interests of ____fill-in-the-blank____. In this case it's reminiscent of Soviet Russia, or Animal Farm, or any run-of-the-mill Communist endeavor.

Tongue-in-cheek, I ask what would a Commission to Counteract Attempts at Falsifying History to Damage the Interests of the United States do? What would be the fictional order of the Commission's tasks and/or topics?

1. New Deal History
2. Slavery
3. Christianity and the Founders
4. Reagan: the man vs. his policies
5. 1960s
6. Andrew Jackson "the hero"
7. Clinton: the man vs. his policies
8. Welfare history
9. The Confederacy
10. Universal health care vs. the AMA

In sum, every object of the Culture Wars could involve an investigation by this Commission. Um, right.

So, my message to this new Russian Commission? If your task list is anything like ours would be, good luck! This might require all of your excess oil funds.

In this case, the First Amendment is actually cost efficient. I'm no big fan of the phrase "market of ideas," but one has to trust---to some degree---that the truth will out. And I've never known a successful government intrusion into the historiography debate (excepting perhaps the EU and Holocaust denial). - TL

Slightly Off Topic: Government Intrusion Into Historiography

I just saw this. I love the universal applicability of the committee title: Commission to Counteract Attempts at Falsifying History to Damage the Interests of ____fill-in-the-blank____. In this case it's reminiscent of Soviet Russia, or Animal Farm, or any run-of-the-mill Communist endeavor.

Tongue-in-cheek, I ask what would a Commission to Counteract Attempts at Falsifying History to Damage the Interests of the United States do? What would be the fictional order of the Commission's tasks and/or topics?

1. New Deal History
2. Slavery
3. Christianity and the Founders
4. Reagan: the man vs. his policies
5. 1960s
6. Andrew Jackson "the hero"
7. Clinton: the man vs. his policies
8. Welfare history
9. The Confederacy
10. Universal health care vs. the AMA

In sum, every object of the Culture Wars could involve an investigation by this Commission. Um, right.

So, my message to this new Russian Commission? If your task list is anything like ours would be, good luck! This might require all of your excess oil funds.

In this case, the First Amendment is actually cost efficient. I'm no big fan of the phrase "market of ideas," but one has to trust---to some degree---that the truth will out. And I've never known a successful government intrusion into the historiography debate (excepting perhaps the EU and Holocaust denial). - TL