Below are two messages from Harvard's History of Science event announcement listserve. Apologies for duplicate postings.
1) Historical Colloquium at Center for Astrophysics, Sept 25 2) Language of Color - opening lecture 9/25/08, exhibit open 9/26/08-9/6/09 -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Historical Colloquium at Center for Astrophysics, Sept 25 Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:55:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Owen Gingerich <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The CfA at 60 Garden Street includes a history of science colloquium in its schedule each year, and this coming Thursday afternoon (Sept 25) at 4 p.m. in Phillips Auditorium Jim Evans will speak. Evans is editor-elect of the Journal for the History of Astronomy, and known for his book THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF ANCIENT ASTRONOMY. If you would like to join Evans for dinner afterward, contact Owen Gingerich at 5-7216. Speaker: James Evans (Program in Science, Technology and Society, University of Puget Sound) Title: Gravity in the Century of Light: The Gravitation Theory of Georges-Louis Le Sage Abstract: Each generation of physicists, or natural philosophers, has sought to place universal gravitation in the context of its own worldview. Often this has entailed an effort to reduce gravity to something more fundamental. But what is deemed fundamental has, of course, changed with time. Each generation attacked the problem of universal gravitation with the tools of its day and brought to bear the concepts of its own standard model. The most successful eighteenth-century attempt to provide a mechanical explanation of gravity was that of Georges-Louis Le Sage (1724-1803) of Geneva. Le Sage imagined a sea of ultramundane corpuscles, streaming in all directions and characterized by minute mass, great velocity, and complete inelasticity. Mostly these corpuscles just pass through large bodies such as apples or planets, but a few are absorbed, leading to all the phenomena of attraction. Le Sage's theory is an especially interesting one, for several reasons. First, it serves as the prototype of a dynamical explanation of Newtonian gravity. Second, the theory came quite close to accomplishing its aim. Third, the theory had a long life and attracted comment by the leading physical thinkers of several successive generations, including Laplace, Kelvin, Maxwell and Feynman. Le Sage's theory therefore provides an excellent opportunity for the study of the evolution of attitudes toward physical explanation. The effects of national style in science and generational change take on a new clarity. _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of hsdept Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 1:53 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [events-hs] [Fwd: Language of Color exhibition opening Sept 26 at Harvard Museum of Natural History, Press preview 9/25] Language of Color opens September 26, 2008, at Harvard Museum of Natural History Whether it's the brilliant blue wings of a butterfly, the scarlet feathers of a tanager, or iridescent beetles that shimmer purple and green, animals display color in vastly different ways. Language of Color, a new exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History will explore how animal colors are produced, the varied ways in which color is perceived, and the diverse messages that animal colors can convey. The exhibit will open September 26, 2008 and be on display through September 6, 2009. Dr. Hopi Hoekstra, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, will offer the Language of Color exhibition opening lecture on Thursday, September 25th at 6:00 pm. Dr. Hoekstra's lecture, Nature's Palette: the Biological Significance of Color, will be free and open to the public. "This exhibition combines a spectacular array of species, and reveals the truly dazzling spectrum of colors used by animals to communicate with each other," said Elisabeth Werby, Executive Director of the Harvard Museum of Natural History. "Language of Color also showcases some of the cutting-edge evolutionary research ongoing at Harvard today." With dramatic displays of real animal specimens including bird, mammal, reptile, fish, mollusk, and insect specimens from Harvard's vast collections, Language of Color will help visitors to understand the nature of color, how different animals "see" it, and how animal color and its perception have co-evolved to produce an extraordinarily complex and diverse palette of colors. Colors can conceal, warn, intimidate, or attract; and animal colors are so diverse both because these messages vary and because the animals receiving the messages perceive colors in different ways. Through computer interactives, visitors will be given the opportunity to "see" colors through the eyes of other animals, including large parts of the color spectrum that are imperceptible to humans. Visitors will also have the opportunity to examine the colors in bird feathers and butterfly wings as if through an electron microscope, to explore the contrasting black and white stripes of a 9-foot-high hide of a mountain zebra, and to learn through a video presentation about how zebra stripes develop and why they have evolved. Some scientists have theorized that the variation in width of different zebras' stripes might be explained by differences in when, in the early development of the zebra fetus, the gene for striping "turned on." Another exhibition highlight is a stunning display of live dart frogs whose colors warn predators that they are a bad choice of food. Another video, filmed by Woods Hole scientists, shows dramatic instantaneous color change in flounder, octopus and cuttle fish. The Harvard Museum of Natural History is located at 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, a 6 minute walk from the Harvard Square T station. The Museum is handicapped accessible. For general information please call 617 495 3045 or visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu <http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/> . With a mission to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the human place in it, the Harvard Museum of Natural History draws on the University's collections and research to present a historic and interdisciplinary exploration of science and nature. More than 160,000 visitors annually make it the University's most-visited attraction. Language of Color has been organized by the Harvard Museum of Natural History. For images and more information, contact Blue Magruder, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call 617-496-0049 Mary Blue Magruder Director of Communications & Marketing Harvard Museum of Natural History 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-496-0049 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Explore www.hmnh.harvard.edu Language of Color, opens September 26, 2008 Fall lectures announced: http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php Harvard Museum of Natural History elected Boston 2008 'Best Museum for Big Kids' on Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/ParentsPicks/cityresults.htm?city_id=9 Looking at Leaves: Photographs by Amanda Means, thru Feb.8, 2009 Sea Creatures in Glass, Harvard's Blaschka marine models, thru Jan 4, 2009 Visit our Press Room for releases, links to images, http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/press_room/index.php
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