INSAP III
The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena
Hotel La Torre, Palermo, 31 December 2000 - 6 January 2001

PROGRAMME

December 31st (Sunday)

HOTEL LA TORRE

10.00 - 13.00 Registration and Poster setting

14.00 - 17.00 Poster setting

17.00 OPENING CEREMONY
- Speeches by Local Authorities
- Speech(es) by IOC and/or LOC chair(s)
- Speech by Mayor of Ponte in Valtellina
- Speech by G. Piazzi's descendant (an American niece)
18.15 Prof. FODERA' (keynote)
19.00 END

20.15
NEW YEAR'S EVE (with dinner and party)


January 1st (Monday)

10.00 - 13.00 Poster session

HISTORY SESSION ON PIAZZI'S DISCOVERY

15.00 S. Débarbat (review):

Piazzi and his French colleagues

15.50 A. McConnell (review):

The Ramsden workshop and the production of the Palermo Circle


16.40 Tea break

17.10 P. Brosche (review):

Gotha, Goethe and the first Asteroids

18.00 R. Binzel (review):

Asteroids Coming of Age


21.00 - Through the Ecliptic: Star Concert (music by the Association 4'33")


January 2nd (Tuesday)

Session: MYTHS AND CONSTELLATIONS

9.00 - 9.45 J. A. Belmonte (keynote):

The Decans and the Ancient Egyptian Skylore

9.50 - 10.10 R. Olowin:

Near East Constellation Panels: Utnapishtim, Noah and the Deluge remembered in the Sky

10.15 - 10.35 E. Calzolari:

The generation-constellation: the Great Bear, the Cassiopeia and the Butterfly


10.40 - 11.10 Coffee break

Session: ASTRONOMICAL PRACTICE THROUGH THE AGES


11.10 - 11.55 G. Federici-Vescovini (keynote)

On the connections between Astronomy and Medicine in the Curriculum of Studies at the College of Philosophy, Astronomy and Medicine Faculty of Bologna University in 1405

12.00 - 12.20 A. Leutgeb

When to do? Muhurta-The Hindu concept of auspicious time11.10 - 11.30

12.25 - 12.45 J.Echevarria

The interaction between music and astronomy


13.00 - 15.00 LUNCH

Session: HISTORY AND LITERATURE


15.00 - 15.20 I. A. Ahmad:

Astronomical Inspiration in the Rubiyat of Umar Khayyam

15.25 - 15.45 N. Miller:

La Sphera: A Renaissance interplanetary voyage

15.50 - 16.10 J. Stein:

Cicero's Cosmos: The Universe as Metaphor

16.15 - 16.35 D. Garwood:

The dining room as celestial vault in Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"


16.40 - 17.10 Tea break

17.10 - 17.30 A. Deming:

The Poetics of Space

17.35 - 17.55 A. Henchman:

Nocturnal Reconnoiters: Astronomy and Perception in 19th century British Literature

18.00 - 18.20 G. Bignami:

History in Space


21.30 J. Echevarria & E. Vazquez - Canciones de Luna (music and songs)



January 3rd (Wednesday)


8.00 Departure for excursion to the archaeological site of Solunto and visit to Villa Palagonia in Bagheria

13.30 -14.30 LUNCH at "Melchiorre's"

14.30 Back to the Hotel La Torre

Session: ARCHAEOLOGY


15.00 - 15.45 M. Tosi (keynote):

The Stars for Space and Time Division in the Prehistoric Evolution of Human Societies

15.50 - 16.10 D. Pankenier:

Popular astrology and Border Affairs in Early Imperial China: an archaeological confirmation

16.15 - 16.35 M. Gridley:

Planets, Pagodas and Power


16.40 - 17.10 Tea break

17.10 - 17.30 M. Rappenglück:

Paleolithic Cosmovisions: The rock panel in the shaft of the Lascaux Grotto, France

17.35 - 17.55 Z. F. Edge:

Aurochs in the Sky: A Celestial Interpretation of the Hall of Bulls in the Cave of Lascaux


Aula Magna, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Viale delle Scienze


21.00 - G. Coyne S. J.:

La cosmologia moderna e l'immagine del Creatore (public conference)



January 4th (Thursday)

PALAZZO DEI NORMANNI

Session: ASTRONOMY IN ART (I)

9.30 - 10.15 Prof. Regnier (keynote):

The influence of astronomical discoveries in modern and contemporary painting

10.20 - 10.40 L. Robinson:

Reflections on the Artist's Moon

10.45 - 11.05 K. Hoving:

Jackson Pollock's "Galaxy"


11.10 - 11.40 Coffee break

11.45 - 12.05 J. White:

Celestial Phenomena: Colin McCahon

12.10 - 12.30 G. Gahm:

Art and Science in "The Sweden Solar System"

12.35 - 12.55 E. Feinberg:

The Architecture of the Ethereal


13.00 - 15.30 Light Lunch (offered by Sicilian Regional Parliament)
Visits to the Palace, the Palatine Chapel, the Astronomical Observatory and the nearby Cathedral with Piazzi's Meridian Line

15.30 - 15.50 L. Cheney:

Vasari's "Patience": the measure of time

15.55 - 16.15 R. Poss:

Landscape and Lyricism in the Astronomical paintings of Donato Creti

16.20 - 16.40 A. Georgiewska-Shine:

On Juno and her double in Rubens' "Ixion"


16.45 - 17.15 Tea break

17.15 - 17.35 M. Gahtan:

Solar Imagery in Italy, 1450-1750

17.40 - 18.00 V. Shrimplin:

The beginning and the end: Images of the Universe


21.00 L. Williams - Cosmic Cabaret



January 5th (Friday)

HOTEL LA TORRE

Session: ASTRONOMY IN ART (II)

9.00 - 9.20 M. Incerti:

Il Battistero di Parma: conoscenze astronomiche

9.25 - 9.45 V. Tiede:

The Sun in the Oratory: Calendric orientation of Early Christian Chapels

9.50 - 10.10 D. P. Madacsi:

Opto-diversity, A key to Artistic Inspiration-Case Study: Moonscapes vs. Earthscapes

10.15 - 10.35 Maria Sundin & Daniel Oberti:

Star Dancers


10.40 - 11.10 Coffee break

Session: ART IN ASTRONOMY

11.10 - 11.55 I. Elmqvist (keynote):

The image of the Astronomy and the Astronomer in the 17th Century Frontispice Illustrations

12.00 - 12.20 P. Hingley:

Picturing Eclipses 1100-2000

12.25 - 12.45 M. Rådbo:

The artist's Moon in a scientific perspective


13.00 - 15.00 LUNCH

Session: ASTRONOMY AND SOCIETY


15.00 - 15.45 R. White (keynote):

Astronomy and Urban Planning in Inka Empire

15.50 - 16.10 J. Ortner:

The Luni-solar Calendar of the Hopi of Northern Arizona, USA

16.15 - 16.35 H. Henry:

Astronomers, Alpine Climbers and Aeronauts


16.40 - 17.10 Tea break

17.10 - 17.30 D. Davis:

Inspiration Lost: The Disappearence of the Night

17.35 - 17.55 G. Wells:

The Sky as a Metaphor in an Age of Science

18.00 - 18.20 P. Knappenberger:

Interpreting the Cosmos through Evolving Technologies




January 6th (Saturday)

PALAZZO STERI

Session: TIME AND SPACE

9.30 - 10.15 C. Impey (keynote):

Thruth and Beauty in Cosmology: does the Universe have an Aesthetic?

10.20 - 10.40 D. De Fontaine:

Flat Worlds: Today and in Antiquity


10.45 - 11.15 Coffee break

11.15 -11.35 H. Gropp:

The nearly forgotten calendar of Coligny and some other calendars at the turn of the (Gregorian) Millennium

11.40 - 12.00 M. Toscano:

The Celestial Timekeepers

12.05 - 12.30 J. C. Caldwell:

Sunlight timing as a function of latitude, longitude and date: a trigonometric model


13.00 - 15.00 LUNCH (at "I Beati Paoli", Piazza Marina)

15.00 - 15.20 A. Cadez:

The Beauty of Symmetry and the Charm of its Breaking

15.25 - 15.45 J. Mooney:

Malta 2000

15.50 - 16.10 Conclusions (by R. Sinclair)

END OF THE MEETING

16.15 - 19.00 Visits to the IAAA exhibition (Palazzo Steri) and to the Oberti exhibition (Libreria del Mare)



ENTERTAINMENT

Association 4'33'' - Through the Ecliptic: Star Concert (music)
J. Echevarria & E. Vazquez - Canciones de Luna. a series of night songs by contemporaries Mexican composers (music)
J. Dill - Creation of a universe: a vision (animation)
L. Williams - Cosmic Cabaret (music)



POSTERS

M. Atkinson - Liquid space
F. Bertola - The Moon, the Stars and the milk
M. Bjorkin - Popular astronomy 1900: science, fiction and new media
R. Buonanno - Historical astronomical sites in Rome
N. Campion - From Stonehange to Seattle
J. Dill - Creation of a Universe (animation)
R. Poss - Plato's Timaeus and the inner life of stars
G. Wolfschmidt - Van Gogh's "Starry night": Inspired by astrophotography?