Grosseteste’s ‘scientific’ treatises – reflecting on principles of investigation
One of the unifying themes across Grosseteste’s ‘scientific’ treatises is that he carefully observed the natural world around him and furthermore assumed that there should be a set of fundamental, universally applicable principles explaining the ordered complexity with which he was confronted. For Grosseteste creation was an act of divine generosity, an overflowing of God’s joy and goodness, and, as a product of the fount and origin of reason (as well as love, justice, joy and so forth), was itself inherently rational. Nature forms a source of knowledge about God alongside the revelation of Scripture.Continue reading “Grosseteste’s ‘scientific’ treatises – reflecting on principles of investigation”
What a wonderful world – aha-moments triggered by insights into a medieval thinker’s mind
In the aftermath of Ordered Universe gatherings I find myself time and again struck by how little appreciation I normally give to the complexity of the natural world. So many fundamental properties of the physical universe I usually take for granted, without even giving it a thought that someone would have some sort of explanatory account for them. Through engaging with 13th-century models of physical phenomena, some of this fascination with the fundamental properties of the world around us has been unlocked for me. Furthermore, I keep being baffled by how science – in the sense of ‘groping for understanding’, as Tom McLeish sometimes puts it – is far from a modern-day phenomenon but has been with us throughout the ages. Given my psychology and philosophy background this constitutes a steep learning curve, and has certainly enriched my understanding of the nature and history of science.Continue reading “What a wonderful world – aha-moments triggered by insights into a medieval thinker’s mind”
Grosseteste goes public: disseminating medieval and modern science
The Mahfouz Forum on Grosseteste’s De generatione sonorum (On the generation of sound) culminated in a set of public lectures held in the Pichette Auditorium of Pembroke College. With this having been the third time that I got to enjoy being part of an Ordered Universe gathering, I had heard before some elements of these talks given by Tom McLeish, Giles Gasper, Hannah Smithson and Richard Bower. But far from making the experience repetitive, it has been very inspiring to see how the speakers’ approach and evaluation of the topics has been evolving and expanding. In addition, it’s rewarding to see how my own understanding of the themes has developed from when I first joined, and how some of the concepts I initially couldn’t get my head around by now seem quite familiar. Continue reading “Grosseteste goes public: disseminating medieval and modern science”
Chladni Plates and the Generation of Sounds
One of the most striking elements in a workshop which was full of them, was the demonstration of sound generation thought the Chladni plates built, mastered and played by Clive Siviour, Engineering Fellow at Pembroke. A lovely moment of humanities and science dialogue came over the question as to what a Chladni plate is: designed by and named for the German physicist Ernst Chladni (1756-1827), as he repeated the earlier experiments of Robert Hooke in running a bow against a glass plate covered in flour, with results and observations marshalled in his 1787 masterwork Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges. Or, a plate to allow the effects of vibration to be observed, where regions of a plate vibrate in opposite directions, leaving nodal lines, where no vibration occurs, visible if the plate is covered in a granular substance. Context and applicability!Continue reading “Chladni Plates and the Generation of Sounds”
On the Generation of Sounds in Pembroke College Oxford
The Ordered Universe team, old and new (for attendence see Giles’ previous post) were 
welcomed with open arms by Pembroke College, Oxford, last week. Their Mahfouz Forum supported this workshop on a new text for us, the De generatione sonorum – on the generation of sounds, as well as embedded public lectures on our work on Grosseteste’s cosmology, colour and science of the rainbow from previous texts.
The College picked up on all the thematic resonances of the week – with even rainbow-hued floodlighting of the hall at night!
Continue reading “On the Generation of Sounds in Pembroke College Oxford”
On the Generation of Sounds – tomorrow
The workshop participants are gathering, and the Ordered Universe research project starts its next treatise formally on Thursday, but with a series of project meetings tomorrow. Continue reading “On the Generation of Sounds – tomorrow”
Public Lectures: On the Generation of Sounds
The public lectures for the Mahfouz Forum workshop on the Generation of Sound, will survey the work of the Ordered Universe team on the treatises On Colour, On Light and On the Rainbow. Two lectures, with a break in the middle, four speakers, and a drinks reception with demonstrations of the most recent work connected to On the Generation of Sounds will follow. We’d love to see you there! Continue reading “Public Lectures: On the Generation of Sounds”
Pembroke College Oxford – a Very Short Introduction
After workshops and conferences held in Durham, Porto and Lincoln, it seems only right that the interdisciplinary and international team of the Ordered Universe Project is now meeting in Oxford – the very place where Grosseteste spent part of his early scholarly career and where today the Bodleian and College libraries keep many of the original manuscripts. Having graduated from the Psychology and Philosophy undergraduate course just this summer, I’m especially looking forward to being in Oxford next week, now as a Pembroke alum.Continue reading “Pembroke College Oxford – a Very Short Introduction”
On the Generation of Sounds
Our next workshop in the Ordered Universe series is just around the corner,beginning next week on Wednesday October 1st (with a meeting for the core team), and then a two-day workshop on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd, with a more relaxed Saturday morning. We are delighted that this workshop forms part of the Mahfouz Interdisciplinary Forum, generously funded by the Mahfouz Foundation, at Pembroke College Oxford. Continue reading “On the Generation of Sounds”