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Astronomy on Tap Köln, 20 October 2022: Jakob den Brok
October 20, 2022 @ 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT
We are back with live events!! This time we will feature Jakob den Brok, a PhD candidate from Bonn, Germany who will discuss the science behind how medieval cultures navigated their ships and mapped continents!
Title: Navigating into the Age of Discovery with Arabic Science & Charts
Summary: Before the 20th century, making accurate charts relied on fundamental knowledge of astronomy. Using the position of the sun, stars, and planets it is possible to determine one’s location on Earth. Accurate charts were crucial for the first European discoveries in the early modern era. Studying maps from the 16th century, we will find a trail of knowledge that leads back to medieval Arabic/Islamic scholars and their innovative ways of mapping the Earth. Already centuries before the Europeans, Arabic/Islamic navigators could measure longitude and latitude quite accurately. In this talk, I will talk about the methods and instruments they used to get such accurate measurements. Eventually, this knowledge was transferred to Europe, where it laid the foundations for navigators, such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama, to navigate into the Age of Discovery.
Join us and grab a drink to enjoy a wonderful evening filled with knowledge!
We will also feature a quiz on recent events in astronomy!!