As devoted readers of the blog will recall, Brian and Giles gave a public lecture in September 2015 at the Royal Society, as part of Open House London. The talk introduced Grosseteste and the world of the medieval university, medieval experiments and what modern science might make of his concepts and understanding. From the thirteenth centuryContinue reading “A 13th Century Theory of Everything – Podcast”
Tag Archives: Ordered Universe
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Materialism and the Value of Conscious Life
Apart from the time devoted to collaborative reading sessions during Ordered Universe Symposia, there is also room for broader conversation and exchange of ideas. These conversations are very interesting and maybe also quite unusual, as they represent a rare instance of academics from very different disciplines being brought together. Interdisciplinary discussions are challenging in manyContinue reading “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Materialism and the Value of Conscious Life”
About What It Takes: Assumptions About Skill Sets in the Humanities and Sciences
From relatively early on in school, young people start to think of themselves as ‘more sciency’ or ‘more of a humanities or languages person’. With these two poles, to one of which many students sooner or later find themselves gravitating, we tend to associate different personality attributes and skills. For humanities subjects, creative and outside-the-boxContinue reading “About What It Takes: Assumptions About Skill Sets in the Humanities and Sciences”
Unity in Diversity
25th – 28th November 2015, Durham, UK. A group of around 25 people gather for another symposium on the scientific writings of the 13th century English bishop Robert Grosseteste. It’s the first symposium under the umbrella of the generous AHRC grant that started in October. Whilst most academic conferences bring together experts from more orContinue reading “Unity in Diversity”
AHRC 10th Anniversary: Ordered Universe and Science in Culture
The Arts and Humanities Research Council has produced a fascinating brochure on some of the projects it has funded over the course of the last decade, now available in an online version. The Ordered Universe features as one of the projects, under the Science in Culture theme, on pages 83-84 (if you want to takeContinue reading “AHRC 10th Anniversary: Ordered Universe and Science in Culture”
Generating sounds: help us write our next paper!
At the last Ordered Universe symposium the group made its third, and final, collaborative reading of Grosseteste’s treatise De generatione sonorum ‘On the Generation of Sounds’. An intriguing, characteristically dense piece of writing, with the usual editorial conundrums, and a strange beauty to its construction, the DGS also sparked a series of reflections from a modern scientific perspective.Continue reading “Generating sounds: help us write our next paper!”
Kuwait honours Professor Nader El-Bizri: Arabic Science and Philosophy
The Ordered Universe project is very pleased to relay the news that one of its core members, Professor Nader El-Bizri, American University of Beirut, is the recipient of a significant honour for his academic work. The Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, awarded the prestigious internationally peer-refereed Kuwait Prize for the year 2014 onContinue reading “Kuwait honours Professor Nader El-Bizri: Arabic Science and Philosophy”
On the liberal arts and the generation of sounds
Robert Grosseteste suggested in his treatise on the liberal arts that in all areas of human endeavour it is necessary to choose carefully the hour most propitious for the undertaking one wants to carry through. Plants carry more fruit if planted when the celestial spheres are correctly aligned, and base metals are transformed into goldContinue reading “On the liberal arts and the generation of sounds”
Robert Grosseteste’s Early Treatises and their Reception
The next in the Ordered Universe symposia series starts today. The research group will be taking its final look, at least in session, at the treatises On the Liberal Arts and On the Generation of Sounds (De artibus liberalibus and De generatione sonorum). So, vowel shapes, musical measure, the powers (or not) of astrology, and Grosseteste’s rising familiarity with the De anima ofContinue reading “Robert Grosseteste’s Early Treatises and their Reception”
Order, the Universe and Everything
This week sees the first symposium for the Ordered Universe project as part of the programme under the new AHRC grant. It will examine Grosseteste’s treatises On the Liberal Arts (De artibus liberalibus) On the Generation of Sounds (De generatione sonorum) and the Middle English translation and exposition of both The Seven Liberal Arts.