The question ‘who was the first scientist’ crops up regularly in discussions connected with Grosseteste, a debate made famous by Crombie, with the strong rejoinders of Alexander Koyré. More often than not the question should be refined as ‘who was the first scientist in what has come to be defined as the western tradition’? There areContinue reading “Physics World – Who was the first scientist?”
Tag Archives: Ordered Universe
Nature Physics Commentary – All the Colours of the Rainbow
The latest Ordered Universe publication is out; a second piece in Nature, this time in Nature Physics. ‘All the Colours of the Rainbow’, which was principally authored by Hannah Smithson and Tom McLeish, with Giles Gasper, provides the outline of the way in which Grosseteste’s thought on colour moves between the De colore ‘On Colour’ and the De iride ‘On the Rainbow’, andContinue reading “Nature Physics Commentary – All the Colours of the Rainbow”
3rd International Grosseteste conference: Day 3
The third and final day of the Grosseteste conference began with the third plenary lecture from, Christopher Southgate, on contemporary perspectives on Science and Religion, in a Christian context, and in English-speaking literature. Moving from the period 1966-2006 and the influence in particular of Barbour, Peacocke, Polkinghorne to the more recent themes and encounter andContinue reading “3rd International Grosseteste conference: Day 3”
Visit to Lincoln Cathedral
3rd International Grosseteste Conference: Day 2
The second day of the conference, and another intriguing array of papers, building the theme of how scientific and theological instincts and interests cohere (or did not), in Grosseteste and his contemporaries. The first parallel sessions included, Robert Ball on readers of Grosseteste on the Psalms, and Philippa Hoskin on the use of Aristotle inContinue reading “3rd International Grosseteste Conference: Day 2”
Ordered Universe: BBC Newcastle, Conversation and other news
We have passed the 25,000 reader mark on The Conversation, which is very encouraging, and the comments make interesting reading too. Also, Giles was interviewed on the Ingrid Hagemann show for BBC Newcastle on Sunday – still four days left on i-Player (at around 8.40 am). Just to let you know!
Ordered Universe joins The Conversation
For those of you that know, and those that don’t, The Conversation, is a new journalism project to promote academic discourse and debate. The Ordered Universe has posted a report and discussion piece, highlighting the collaborative nature of the project, and the surprising and stimulating results of that collaboration. We have put a focus on theContinue reading “Ordered Universe joins The Conversation”
Do we live in a universe at all: some thoughts from Mark Robson
The Durham Grosseteste Project involves looking at the works of Bishop Grosseteste and trying to understand his ideas in the light of the conceptual background of an ordered universe. Grosseteste understood himself to be playing a role in a divinely ordered hierarchy of creatures. He was within a Grand Plan, a teleologically ordered whole whoseContinue reading “Do we live in a universe at all: some thoughts from Mark Robson”
Why the scientists?
At the heart of the Ordered Universe Project is the interdisciplinary collaboration between medievalists and scientists. In this way light is shed onto Grosseteste’s scientific work from very different angles, and this allows for an all-around and in-depth elucidation of his writings. That medievalists contribute to our understanding of medieval science seems straightforward and notContinue reading “Why the scientists?”
Ordered Universe Workshops
A record of the main collaborative workshops we have held, from the birth of the project to read scientific works of the High Middle Ages in an interdisciplinary forum, to the most recent focused sessions on the treatise on the rainbow. The process of team-building is a long one, and involves forging bonds of trust,Continue reading “Ordered Universe Workshops”