Medieval Astronomy: More Exciting Than It Sounds | SF

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Did you know, in Medieval Europe, that astronomy was useful to monks—who learned to read the stars to find out when it was time to pray at night and to figure out the correct date for Easter?

Join Berkeley and Stanford lecturer John Dillon for a free presentation on Medieval Astronomy to find out more about these strange period for the study of the night sky.

The Middle Ages are often thought of as a time of ignorance, superstition, and inquisitions, but surprisingly greater advances were made in science and mathematics in those “dark ages” than in the “renaissance” that followed and Astronomy was a required subject for all university students.

Dillon will examine the scientific vigor of the medieval worlds of Islam and Europe and how it fostered the breakthroughs of Copernicus and Galileo and the emergence of modern science.

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