Hannah and I enjoyed the hospitality of the Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science at the weekend, in Oxford and very much enjoyed presenting the Ordered Universe project to their members and other attendees. It was lovely to meet Geoffrey Hindley, involved with the Society from its inception, and all the moreContinue reading “Colour, Rainbows, Crombie and the Ordered Universe”
Tag Archives: hannah smithson
The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science – Saturday 14th December
Hannah and Giles have been invited to talk to The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science, in two weeks time, on Saturday, 14 December at 2:00 pm. We’ll be talking about the project, under the title: “Medieval and Modern Science: Robert Grosseteste (c.1170-1253) in Multi-Disciplinary Perspective”. The recent work on the DeContinue reading “The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science – Saturday 14th December”
Cool for School: A Grossetestian framework for teaching scientific knowledge and how science works
Nowadays teachers are expected to have clearly defined learning objectives for every lesson, but more fundamentally it must be definedwhat the overall aims of education should be. These seem to cluter around the acquisition of firstly a broad and in-depth knowledge base across the disciplines, and secondly of procedural skills that enable students to criticallyContinue reading “Cool for School: A Grossetestian framework for teaching scientific knowledge and how science works”
Workshop 2: Medieval Science and the Modern Curriculum – Part 2
One of the bedrock principles of the Durham Grosseteste Project is the activity of collaborative reading. It sounds simple, and it many respects it is, but sitting together, to read through a text, slowly and thoughtfully, creates the environment in which exciting and imaginative ideas for research take shape and evolve. All present are ableContinue reading “Workshop 2: Medieval Science and the Modern Curriculum – Part 2”
Workshop 2: Medieval Science and the Modern Curriculum – Part 1
At the beginning of this week we welcomed members old and new to Durham to explore the second element within our network project based on Grosseteste’s scientific works, namely whether and how the ideas, concepts and problems he discusses can be used in the modern classroom. How to bring Grosseteste’s world to life and how toContinue reading “Workshop 2: Medieval Science and the Modern Curriculum – Part 1”
The educational strand – ideas from the student perspective
When I first read about the idea of linking the Ordered Universe Project to education, I was fascinated by the parallel drawn between knowledge development across time, within the individual on the one hand and in the history of science on the other. It seems to me to be an intriguing suggestion that there mayContinue reading “The educational strand – ideas from the student perspective”
De colore – impressions from a first-time, non-medieval, reader
I started my reading about Grosseteste and his scientific works with ‘The Dimensions of Colour’ on the De colore. Although when reading the translation I couldn’t picture Grosseteste’s model in my head, I was baffled by its complexity and sophistication. Such an abstract account of the phenomenon of colour was certainly not what I expectedContinue reading “De colore – impressions from a first-time, non-medieval, reader”
Physics of De Luce Hots Up
Recent working meeting with Richard Bower, Hannah Smithson, Tom McLeish and Brian Tanner worked through the surprisingly subtle physics issues of balancing luminous drag and absorption as the celestial spheres crystallise out. Another surprise is the strong effect of the initial matter distribution (following the original expansion). Well behaved universes of the Aristotelian type seemContinue reading “Physics of De Luce Hots Up”
Hannah Smithson speaking at Liverpool Hope Foundation Hour, Wed. 10th 1pm
Those of you lucky enough to be in or around Liverpool this week can catch Hannah giving a Foundation Hour talk at Liverpool Hope University, on Wednesday 10th April, 1pm in the Eden Lecture Theatre. Hannah will be talking on: Foundation Hour – Medieval Science: Colour Decoded by the 13th Century Scholar Robert Grosseteste. http://www.hope.ac.uk/eventsCalendar/t4.do?lang=en&dt=d.en.19973&f=month&d=03/04/2013&sd=Wednesday,10April2013&ac=*
Ordered Universe Talks to Date
A run-down of the public and research presentations various members of the team have given on the Grosseteste Science project over the last two years or so.