Conference Gnomons and Sundials through the Ages – 2015

June 16, 2015, 5.15 pm – 7 pm
Venue : Grande Salle des Séances de l’Académie – 23, quai de Conti, 75006 Paris

 

The Conference is organised by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie des Sciences the Comité d’Histoire des Sciences et d’Epistémologie de l’Académie des Sciences and the Comité National Français d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences.

The organising committee is composed of the following members : Karine Chemla (CNFHPS),  Robert Halleux (AIBL), Jean-Paul Poirier (AS et CHSE) and Denis Savoie (Universcience – Syrte Observatoire de Paris).

Presentation

The next robot sent to Mars by the NASA has to use a gnomon, in order to determine the geographical north of the planet. How do these thousand years old objects, which principle is to stand in the light and cast shadows, remain relevant for future research? How have they gone through centuries, and how do scholars located throughout the globe have exploited the possibilities they offered ? These are the questions that we will try to explore in a hundred and few minutes.

Programme full pdf version

Chairs
Catherine Bréchignac, Permanent Secretary of the Académie des sciences
Michel Zink, Permanent Secretary of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres

Speakers
Denis Savoie (Directeur de la médiation scientifique et de l’éducation d’Universcience – Syrte Observatoire de Paris)
Ce que les objets racontent sur l’histoire de la gnomonique de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours

Sho Hirose (SPHERE, CNRS & Université Paris-Diderot, SAW),
Matthieu Husson (CNRS-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris),
Agathe Keller (CNRS, SPHERE, Université Paris Diderot),
Clemency Montelle (University of Canterbury, Nouvelle Zélande), session prepared in the context of the ERC SAW project.
Le gnomon illuminé: pratiques mathématiques et astronomiques dans des textes arabes, latins et sanskrits.

Le gnomon illuminé : Vidéo de la conférence incluant de nombreuses  diapositives ici : http://public.weconext.eu/academie-sciences/2015-06-16/video_id_002/index.html