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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Egg rock


Cratere Gale, Sol 1505 (27 Ottobre 2016, tempo terrestre).
Il rover Curiosity si trova nella zona detta Murray Formation presso la base del Monte Sharp che è al centro del cratere. Durante la ricognizione, la Front Right Hazcam del rover, una delle quattro Hazard Avoidance Camera di Curiosity, registra l'immagine che vediamo nella Figura 1. Vicino al rover c'è qualcosa delle dimensioni di una pallina da golf, con una superficie sferica liscia e scura, che merita di essere vista meglio con la Mastcam, il sistema che fornisce immagini true-color del suolo di Marte. Il rover trasmette così a Terra un immagine che mostra che questo piccolo oggetto sferico è un meteorite ferroso (Figura 2), una parte di un corpo celeste che si è fuso nell'impatto con l’atmosfera di Marte. Questo meteorite è stato chiamato “Egg Rock”.


Wednesday, December 14, 2016

La guerra di Caligola contro Poseidone

La guerra di Caligola contro Poseidone

Questo link vi porta alla discussione di un meme motivatore, su curioso aneddoto di Gaio Giulio Cesare Augusto Germanico, il terzo imperatore romano passato alla storia col nomignolo di Caligola.
"Ogni volta che fai qualcosa di stupido, ricorda che l’Imperatore Caligola intraprese una guerra contro Poseidone (Dio del mare) e ordinò ai suoi uomini di sferrare coltellate all’acqua e scagliare lance in mare così a caso."
"Sfortunatamente, - dice il sito - stiamo parlando in questo caso dell’equivalente storico di una leggenda urbana. Tutto quel che sappiamo degli imperatori è frutto ciò che ci è stato tramandato dai membri della classe senatoria, i quali erano ostili a chiunque volesse incentrare tutti i poteri su di sé. "
In questo caso è Svetonio, Caligola, Liber IV.46.  "L’evento ricalca un topos letterario nella narrazione delle guerre persiane: la flagellazione dell’Ellesponto. Durante la seconda spedizione, Serse I di Persia volle costruire un ponte di barche per superare un tratto di mare piuttosto profondo dell’antico Stretto dei Dardanelli. Il ponte fu distrutto dalla violenza del mare quando i lavori erano ormai quasi giunti al termine. Serse decapitò i responsabili della costruzione e ordinò di flagellare l’Ellesponto, colpevole di avergli arrecato un’offesa personale."

Friday, December 9, 2016

Images - Mars Science Laboratory

Images - Mars Science Laboratory

Alveolar Stones on Mars



Curiosity - Sol 1403


Adjusted

Green stone of Mars


Curiosity Sol 1505

Curiosity Rover Finds and Examines a Meteorite on Mars

Alveoli in the stone - Mars

Here magnificent alveoli in the stone on MARS. Curiosity Sol 1523


Note the bright lines which are segmenting the stone!
Wonderful.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=1523MH0003690000600330R00_DXXX&s=1523.76560068931

Again, we have a sort of honeycomb weathering. "Honeycomb weathering, also known as fretting, cavernous weathering, alveoli/alveolar weathering, stone lattice, stone lace or miniature tafoni weathering (Mustoe, 1982) is a form of salt weathering common on coastal and semi-arid granites, sandstones and limestones (Mustoe 1982)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_weathering



Martian Curiosity


"Martian Wood"

Of course, this is not wood. This formation is interesting because it looks like a sort of  honeycomb weathering.  "Honeycomb weathering, also known as fretting, cavernous weathering, alveoli/alveolar weathering, stone lattice, stone lace or miniature tafoni weathering (Mustoe, 1982) is a form of salt weathering common on coastal and semi-arid granites, sandstones and limestones (Mustoe 1982)."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_weathering

Curiosity Sol 1523



Martian Curiosity

Curiosity Sol 1537.




"Snake"

This is a very interesting rock formation. When the image is enhanced,  the colours make it looking like a "snake". 

We can see a stone of the same kind in other images of Curiosity - Sol 1514






Monday, November 21, 2016

Fantastic Research and Where to Find It

Fantastic Research and Where to Find It


Very interesting on SSRN BLOG


If we haven’t already sent you running to do a QuickSearch for “Harry Potter” in the eLibrary then perhaps we can interest you with some choice titles we found there. Without further ado:
Our Favorite Harry Potter Themed Titles Available on SSRN
millennials-6

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Ales Stenar and the Moon

The Ales Stenar, known in English as the Ale’s Stones, is an ancient megalithic monument of Sweden. The stones are outlining a ship. The paper
"Astronomical Alignments of Ales Stenar Along Sunset and Moonset Directions"
shows alignments of the stones along the northern possible moonset on major and minor lunar standstills. These astronomical alignments are shown using the Photographer’s Ephemeris. It is possible that this megalithic monument was used for observing the cycles of the moon.

In this image, we can see the left side of the Ales Stenar and the direction of the northern moonset (blue line) on a major lunar standstill, represented by the blue line. Note the alignment of the stones along this direction.

Here, we can see the right side of the Ales Stenar and the direction of the northern moonset (blue line) on a minor lunar standstill, represented by the blue line. Note the alignment of the stones along this direction.

The images are snapshots of the results of Photographer's Ephemeris. In the images, the yellow and orange lines are giving the directions of sunrise and sunset on the days of lunar standstills.

On the summer solstice, we have the main axis of Ales Stenar oriented along the sunset. In the following image, this direction is given by the orange line. 




Wednesday, September 7, 2016

A skyscraper as a huge diffraction grating

The Intesa Sanpaolo Tower in Torino behaves like a huge "diffraction grating". The facade is a doudle-skin one, the outer skin being mabde by a steel frame an orientable transparent panels. This outer skin  becomes a huge optical device.
The south side has only the central part covered by the doudle-skin. The rest is covered by photovoltaic panels. In the proper incident sunlight,  we can see the central part dispersing the white light in colored beams. Here two images of the phenomenon.



The sequence lasts 10 minutes. 

For more details, read please this article
A skyscraper as a huge diffraction grating

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Vito Volterra

Vito Volterra and his commemoration for the centenary of Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction, https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01353959/

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

On the Karnak Temple and the Sun Hierophany

The Karnak Temple and the Motion of the Earth's Axis

Article published on SSRN Journal.
Abstract: The Karnak Temple complex comprises a vast mix of temples, chapels and other buildings. Its construction began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued during the Ptolemaic period. The temple was the main place of worship the Amun-Ra, the Sun God. Not surprisingly his temple has its axis aligned along the sunrise azimuth on the winter solstice. Here we will discuss how the motion of the Earth’s axis has altered, in four thousand years, this alignment of half a degree.



Sun hierophany at the temple on the winter solstice

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Newgrange and the axial tilt


The Newgrange  stone age passage tomb on the Winter Solstice is described by the site:
Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is an opening. This opening allows sunlight to penetrate the passage and chamber at sunrise around the Winter Solstice. A narrow beam of light penetrates the opening and reaches the floor of the chamber, "gradually extending to the rear of the passage. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. After 17 minutes the sunbeam leaves the chamber and retreats back down the passage. When Newgrange was built over 5000 years ago, the winter solstice sunbeam would have made its way to the back recess of the central chamber. Due to changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis the sunbeam now stops 2 metres from the back recess". 
What is this tilt? It is the obliquity of the ecliptic. Here in the figure we can see it.


The angle of the Earth's axial tilt varies with respect to the plane of the Earth's orbit. These slow 2.4° obliquity variations are roughly periodic, taking approximately 41,000 years to shift between a tilt of 22.1° and 24.5° and back again. Currently the Earth is tilted at 23.44 degrees, decreasing. 
At the time of Newgrange building, the til was of about 24 degrees.

If we want to evaluate the effect of this tilt shift on the sunrise and sunset azimuths on solstices, at the Newgrange latitude, the influence of the tilt on the sunrise azimuths on solstice is about a degree. This explains the two metres back from recess.

Hardknott fort sunrises on summer solstice

As told by Ben Johnson on the Hardknott Roman Fort at 
"A trip to the Roman fort at Hardknott in Cumbria is probably not for those of a nervous disposition!! The drive up the steep, winding, narrow road through Hardknott and Wynose passes is often tricky and always a little frightening ... , but this adds to the experience, as the setting of the fort is spectacular and the scenery incredible."

I would like to add something to these worlds.
Let me use the following shapshot from the Photographer's Ephemeris.


We can see how the Roman fort wakes up on the summer solstice.
Viewed from the center, the sun rises along the direction of the NE gate.
The sunset corresponds to the NW gate.
This year the moon is 98%, that is full moon! Fantastic!

More on the Hardknott fort at

Saturday, June 11, 2016

On precession

Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. Very close to the north celestial pole, it is currently the pole star. But Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and the ancient mariners, did not use this star for their voyages. Why? because of precession (cerchio che più tardi in cielo è torto).

a very detailed and clear discussion on precession, with illustrations,

Here I am adapting a part of this excellent discussion.

The Earth is like a spinning top. Then the Earth’s rotational axis gyrates, with a period of 26,000 years. This motion is called axial precession, or "precession of the equinoxes".  Precession occurs because the Sun's gravity induces torque, which pulls the Earth's equatorial bulge toward the ecliptic. 
The axis of precession is perpendicular to the ecliptic and is aligned with the ecliptic axis. This axis projects to two points, the north and south ecliptic poles, which are inclined 23.5º to the celestial poles.

Note that axial precession affects the direction of the Earth's axis, but it does not affect the angle of its tilt relative to the ecliptic. Thus, precession affects the time of year in which various constellations are visible. The precssion does not affect the axis tilt, which is constant, and so the seasons themselves continue just like they are now.

Our standard Gregorian calendar is based on the solar, or tropical year, the time it takes the Sun to return to the same equinox, which is defined by the direction of the Earth's axis relative to the Sun. Since the seasons are intrinsic to the tropical year, our Gregorian calendar is calibrated so that the March equinox always falls on either March 20 or 21. This forces the seasons to occur during the same months, regardless of precession. However, the stars visible in the evening will slowly change. Figure 1 (of the given link) shows the winter solstice in the north, with the constellation Taurus prominent at midnight. If the Earth's axis were pointing in the opposite direction, Taurus would still be prominent at midnight, but it would be the summer solstice. So, for the solar calendar, the seasons occur in the same months, but we view different constellations during those months.

Besides the axial precession of 26,000, there is also a small oscillation of the tilt. Taking approximately 41,000 years the tilt shifts from 22.1° to 24.5° and back again. Currently the Earth is tilted at 23.44 degrees,  decreasing. If we want to evaluate the effect of this tilt shift on the sunrise and sunset azimuths on solstices, for instance at the Newgrange latitude, for Newgrange passage tomb that was built 5,000 ago, the influence of the tilt on the sunrise azimuths on solstice is about a degree (see  http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.it/2016/06/newgrange-and-axial-tilt.html )

Friday, April 29, 2016

World's Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Gets a Boost - The Crux

World's Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Gets a Boost - The Crux: One truism for me that I suspect holds some tiny bit of general truth for many across the broad, beautiful swath of humanity is that the longer I live the more history compresses. Today the work Brahe, Kepler and Galileo did to understand the geometry of the solar system doesn’t seem as distant to me …

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The orientation of the King's Knot of Stirling Castle


Using SunCalc.net we can see the orientation of the King's Knot of the Stirling Castle with respect to sunset and sunrise on solstices. Note the alignment to Midsummer sunset.
More details in my paper published in PHILICA and at:

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Tianluokeng Tulou cluster

Tianluokeng tulou cluster is one of the better known groups of Fujian Tulou. It is located in Fujianprovince, Zhangzhou City, Nanjing County, Shuyang Township, Tian Luo Keng Village (literally "Snail Pit" Village) in southern China. The cluster consists of a square earth building at the center of a quincunx, surrounded by four round earth buildings (or more exactly, 3 round earth buildings and one oval shape earth building).
More at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianluokeng_Tulou_cluster


Friday, January 9, 2015

Castlerigg stone circle

The stone circle at Castleriggis situated near Keswick in Cumbria. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BCE, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. (Wikipedia). It is in a location northern of the Hardknott Roman Fort.To have a detailed discussion of the alignment of the stones at Castlerigg, please visit this site
http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/englandcastlerigg.htm

In the following images, using SunCalc, we cans ee how the sun is moving above this stone circle.


Summer solstice


Winter solstice

Here the map showing position of the stone circle and of the roman fort.


SunCalc at the Hardknott Roman Fort

As told by its owner (Vladimir Agafonkin), SunCalc is an app that shows sun movement and sunlight phases during the given day at the given location, where we can see sun positions at sunrise, specified time and sunset. A thin orange curve is the current sun trajectory, and the yellow area around is the variation of sun trajectories during the year. The closer a point is to the center, the higher is the sun above the horizon.


Here an example: SunCalc at the hardkontt Roman Fort


Summer solstice


Winter solstice

More at:
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/01/07/let-in-light-ancient-roman-fort-designed-for-celestial-show/

Suncalc and ancient Sun

In a recent paper, entitled "Was Lepenski Vir an ancient Sun or Pleiades observatory?", the authors Vladan Pankovic, Milan Mrdjen and Miodrag Krmar, have discussed the hypotesis of the mesolithic village Lepenski Vir (9500 -- 5500 BC) as an ancient (one of the oldest) Sun observatory. The authors had been so kind to follow a method I suggested of using "freely available software" for the local Sun radiation direction simulation. I used sollumis.com , they used the suncalc.net software.
Here an example of suncalc software.



 

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Atlantis Orichalcum


Ripescato nel mare di Gela il tesoro di Atlantide
 
La Soprintendenza del Mare ha riportato alla luce 39 lingotti di Oricalco: risalgono a 2600 anni fa. Per Platone era il misterioso metallo di Atlantide.

Un tesoro è stato ripescato nel litorale di contrada “Bulala” nel mare di Gela, in una zona che in passato ha restituito i resti di ben tre navi arcaiche. All’interno di un relitto databile alla prima metà del VI secolo a. C., 39 lingotti di un materiale nobile, l’Oricalco, simile al moderno ottone, noto nell’antichità come metallo prezioso, tanto da essere considerato al terzo posto per valore commerciale, dopo oro e argento.

https://web.archive.org/web/20161020063759/http://www.globalist.it/Detail_News_Display?ID=67282&typeb=0&Ripescato-nel-mare-di-Gela-il-tesoro-di-Atlantide



Oricalco, museo di Gela
Immagine Cortesia di Emanuele Riela - Opera propria



Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Artù a Mediobogdum (Hardknott Roman Fort)

"Il forte è il luogo in cui un Artù bambino trascorre gli anni dell'infanzia, vegliato e istruito da un giovane Merlino"
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediobogdum

Friday, December 19, 2014

Solstices at the Hardknott Roman Fort

A roman fort in Britannia, a specific orientation to solstices




More at SSRN



Solstices at the Hardknott Roman Fort

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino



Abstract

From the most ancient times, the Roman military camps were planned according to a certain ideal pattern that was also applied to the coloniae, the outposts established in the territories conquered by Rome. The planning of castra and colonies was based on a chessboard of parallel streets, the main of them being the Decumanus. Probably, some Decumani were oriented to confer a symbolic meaning to the place too. Here we discuss the distinctive layout of a castrum in the Roman Britannia, the Hardknott Fort, and its orientation to the solstices.

Keywords: Archeoastronomy, Solar Orientation, Solstices, Urban Planning, Satellite Images, Google Earth.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Emissions in Atmosphere: Trends and Recurrence Plots

The increase of carbon dioxide concentration in atmosphere, due to anthropogenic emissions, is almost generally considered as responsible of global climate changes. We show some data of CO2 concentration and its emission in atmosphere, using the recurrence plots to enhance the visualization of their trends.  See more at: http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/582#sthash.L4dBnzsh.dpuf

Data of CO2 concentration in atmosphere, from [1]. The range is from January 1958 to October 2014. In the image we see the recurrence plot. The global annual mean concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating [1]. This acceleration is shown by the recurrence plot, where colours are narrowing towards the diagonal line.
[1] Tans, P. & Keeling R. (2014). Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide, Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). At www.esrl.noaa.gov/ gmd/ ccgg/ trends/


About 1970, the oil production and import of US had a sharp peak (data from Ref.12). Note how the corresponding recurrence plot evidences this peak.
[12] Vv.Aa. (2014). U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), at www.eia.gov/petroleum/

 See more at: http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/582#sthash.L4dBnzsh.dpuf

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Geoglyphs of Titicaca - 2 - A snake


The image, obtained from Google Maps, shows the network of earthworks separated by canals - near the Titicaca Lake. This is an ancient agricultural technique used by Andean people starting from the first millennium BC. 


More on Titicaca

arXiv:1009.4602 [pdf] Geoglyphs of Titicaca as an ancient example of graphic design,
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
arXiv:1009.2231 [pdf] Symbolic landforms created by ancient earthworks near Lake Titicaca, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

A.C. Sparavigna (2012) 
Image Processing for the Enhancement of Satellite Imagery. In: Image Processing: Methods, Applications and Challenges / Vítor Hugo Carvalho. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (USA), pp. 149-161. ISBN 9781620818442 

A.C. Sparavigna, R. Marazzato (2011)
Using Geographic Information Systems to Increment the Knowledge of Cultural Landscapes. In: Smart Tech & Smart Innovation, La strada per costruire il futuro, Torino, 15-17 Novembre 2011. 
[img] [img]
A.C. Sparavigna (2010)
The geoglyphs of Titicaca. In: ARCHAEOGATE n. 13-10-. - ISSN 1973-2953 
[img] [img]

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Geoglyphs of Titicaca - 1



Earthworks near Titicaca Lake create "geoglyphs"
These earthworks are known as "raised fields" and "waru-warus".

The image, obtained from Google Maps, shows the network of earthworks separated by canals - near the Titicaca Lake (Huata, Puno, Peru). This is an ancient agricultural technique used by Andean people starting from the first millennium BC. Note that the structure of the network is created after a careful planning. Each raised field is approximately 10 meters large and more than one hundred long.


More on Titicaca

arXiv:1009.4602 [pdf] Geoglyphs of Titicaca as an ancient example of graphic design,
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
arXiv:1009.2231 [pdf] Symbolic landforms created by ancient earthworks near Lake Titicaca, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

A.C. Sparavigna (2012) 
Image Processing for the Enhancement of Satellite Imagery. In: Image Processing: Methods, Applications and Challenges / Vítor Hugo Carvalho. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (USA), pp. 149-161. ISBN 9781620818442 

A.C. Sparavigna, R. Marazzato (2011)
Using Geographic Information Systems to Increment the Knowledge of Cultural Landscapes. In: Smart Tech & Smart Innovation, La strada per costruire il futuro, Torino, 15-17 Novembre 2011. 
[img] [img]
A.C. Sparavigna (2010)
The geoglyphs of Titicaca. In: ARCHAEOGATE n. 13-10-. - ISSN 1973-2953 
[img] [img]


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Robert Grosseteste, De Luce, On Light

Robert Grosseteste's Thought on Light and Form of the World
A.C. Sparavigna
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES
2014, Volume: 3, Numero: 4, Pagine: pp. 54-62
ISSN: 2305-3925
Abstract: Robert Grosseteste was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Thirteenth Century. Philosopher and scientist, he proposed a metaphysics based on the propagation of light. In this framework, he gave a cosmology too. Here we will discuss the treatise where Grosseteste proposed it, that entitled 'De luce, seu de incohatione formarum', 'On Light and the Beginning of Forms'
Parole chiave: medieval science, cosmogony, history of physics, history of science, robert grosseteste, big bang, cosmology
http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/486

You can find some papers of mine about Robert Grosseteste at this link:
http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/author/342

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Robert Grosseteste and his Big Bang

"From Rome to the Antipodes: The Medieval Form of the World," International Journal of Literature and Arts. Vol. 1, No. 2, 2013, pp. 16-25. doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20130102.11

9. Grosseteste and the Sphere of Light
Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253) was an English philosopher who became the Bishop of Lincoln. As a scientist he had a quite important role in the medieval school of Oxford [32]. In his works, in particular in the commentaries of Aristotle’s philosophy, Grosseteste devised a scientific method. From particular observations, we can find a universal law, and then, from these laws we can predict some peculiar cases. Grosseteste called this “resolution and composition” [33]. As a consequence, Grosseteste tells that physics needs the ‘experimentum’, that is, a proof from experience. These ideas were a prelude for the Galilean science in the 17th century [34]. The method of “resolution and composition” was applied to geometry and optics. Moreover, optics is described by geometry, because optics depends on geometry. As a conclusion, Grosseteste argued that mathematics was the highest science, basis for all others. Here we see that he understood the necessity to describe the physical phenomena in a mathematic formalism. Grosseteste believed that at the beginning of times, it wasthe light to move the universe. In his “De Luce”, Grosseteste explains the origin of the world. God created matter and light together in a point. Due to its nature the light propagated isotropically in all directions. It immediately became a sphere and, accordingly, dragged by the light, the matter started to expand. The creation is then explained by means of a sphere of light [35].
Grosseteste's work in optics was continued by Roger Bacon. There is also an interesting quotation often reported in the history of telescope. In his treatise entitled “De Iride”, Grosseteste writes that a part of optics, “when well understood, shows us how we may make things a very long distance off appear as if placed very close, and large near things appear very small, and how we may make small things placed at a distance appear any size we want, so that it may be possible for us to read the smallest letters at incredible distances, or to count sand, or seed, or any sort of minute objects.” It is probable that Grosseteste made some experiments using lenses and mirrors [36,37].
[32] N. Lewis, Robert Grosseteste, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010, E.N. Zalta ed.
[33] H.G. Gauch, Jr., Scientific Method in Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.222.
[34] W. A. Wallace, Prelude to Galileo: Essays on Medieval and Sixteenth-Century Sources of Galileo's Thought, Springer, 1981.
[35] F. Adorno, T. Gregory and V. Verra, Storia della Filosofia, Bari: Laterza, 1973.
[36] A.C. Sparavigna, "Translation and discussion of the De Iride, a treatise on optics by Robert Grosseteste," arXiv, 2012, History and Philosophy of Physics, arxiv:1211.5961.
[37] A.C. Sparavigna, "Reflection and refraction in Robert Grosseteste's De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris," arXiv, 2013, History and Philosophy of Physics, arxiv:1302.1885.

A translation of Grosseteste's treatise on Big Bang at
A.C. Sparavigna (2014) , Robert Grosseteste's Thought on Light and Form of the World. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 3 n. 4, pp. 54-62. - ISSN 2305-3925
 at http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/486

I have translated and discussed some Grosseteste's treatises, you can find th links to download them freely at
http://physics-sparavigna.blogspot.it/2014/04/robert-grosseteste_8.html

Grossatesta ed il Big Bang

Roberto Grossatesta è il filosofo medievale che si è posto il problema dell'origine del mondo, un modo ancora tolemaico con al suo centro la Terra. Come dice la Genesi "e la luce fu". La luce nella sua espansione sferica porta con se la materia e crea il mondo.

Dalla pagina sul "Ilemorfismo universale"
http://www3.unisi.it/ricerca/prog/fil-med-online/temi/htm/ilemorfismo.htm
La cosmologia: Roberto Grossatesta. All’interno di una visione cosmologica, anche Roberto Grossatesta, capofila della tradizione francescana a Oxford, pone i rapporti tra forma e materia nei termini di una intrinseca unione. Accogliendo pienamente alcuni aspetti della speculazione scientifica araba, egli parla della luce come “prima forma della corporeità”. Oggetto della creazione divina, la luce sintetizza la forma e la materia nella loro esistenza primordiale. Assolutamente semplice e priva di dimensionalità, essa produce la materia estesa moltiplicandosi infinitamente. Grossatesta affida dunque alla luce l’esistenza di una materialità sottile, di per sé e sin dall’origine dotata di forma. La naturale e necessaria autopropagazione della luce gli consente, inoltre, di spiegarne il dinamismo intrinseco, da cui nasce l’intero cosmo: che raccoglie la luce originaria come lumen nel mondo astrale e come virtus in quello elementare, senza perdere il suo carattere unitario dato dall’unica forma corporea da cui è provenuto.


Dal CORSO DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA PER I LICEI E PER GLI ADULTI CHE DESIDERANO CONOSCERLA: DALLA FILOSOFIA ANTICA A QUELLA CONTEMPORANEA, s cura di Francesco Lorenzoni, 2012, V.1, FILOSOFIA ANTICA E MEDIEVALE
"Ad Oxford Roberto Grossatesta, francescano, nato nel 1175, compie studi di specifica natura scientifica ed empirica sulle proprietà degli specchi e sulle lenti, benché all'interno di una "cosmologia della luce" (la prima realtà creata è la luce e le nove sfere celesti, mentre i quattro elementi terrestri si formano attraverso processi di diffusione, aggregazione e disgregazione della luce). Ma soprattutto egli esprime un principio che sarà a fondamento del pensiero di Galileo e della fisica moderna, vale a dire il principio dell'utilità dello studio delle linee, degli angoli e delle figure geometriche, poiché senza di esso non si può conoscere niente della filosofia naturale."

La teoria della luce di Roberto Grossatesta



estratto "Da Democrito ai quark, le grandi intuizioni della Fisica"
volume realizzato per il LXXXVII Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Fisica

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Robert Grosseteste

A.C. Sparavigna (2014)
De Calore Solis, a Treatise on Heat by Robert Grosseteste. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 3 n. 1, pp. 27-31. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2014)
Robert Grosseteste and the Colours. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 3 n. 1, pp. 1-6. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
From Rome to the Antipodes: The Medieval Form of the World. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND ART, vol. 1 n. 2, pp. 16-25.

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
Gabrio Piola e il suo Elogio di Bonaventura Cavalieri. Lulu Press, Inc, Raleigh, North Carolina , pp. 1-79. ISBN 9781291298567

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
The Generation of Sounds According to Robert Grosseteste. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 2 n. 10, pp. 1-5. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
On the Rainbow, a Robert Grosseteste's Treatise on Optics. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 2 n. 9, pp. 108-113. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
Reflection and refraction in Robert Grosseteste's De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris. arXiv.org, Cornell University Library, Ithaca NY.

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
Robert Grosseteste and his Treatise on Lines, Angles and Figures of the Propagation of Light. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 2 n. 9, pp. 101-107. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
Robert Grosseteste and the Four Elements. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 2 n. 12, pp. 42-45. - ISSN 2305-3925

A.C. Sparavigna (2013)
Robert Grosseteste: the geometry to solve the complexity of the world. Scribd, San Francisco.

Sparavigna A.C. (2012)
Discussion of the De Generatione Sonorum, a treatise on sound and phonetics by Robert Grosseteste. Scribd, San Francisco, California.

A.C. Sparavigna (2012)
From Rome to the Antipodes: the medieval form of the world. arXiv.org, Cornell UniversityLibrary.

Sparavigna A.C. (2012)
Robert Grosseteste's colours. arXiv.org, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.

Sparavigna A.C. (2012)
Sound and motion in the De Generatione Sonorum, a treatise by Robert Grosseteste. arXiv, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.

Sparavigna A.C. (2012)
Translation and discussion of the De Iride, a treatise on optics by Robert Grosseteste. arXiv, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Pantheon as an astronomic instrument

Fiorenzo Laurelli (Twitter) published some interesting images on the sun in the Roman Pantheon.
In occasion of the Equinox he shows the light of the sun falling in this amazing temple. He is also providing an interesting reference of this subject: Il Pantheon come strumento astronomico, Fausto Masi, International EILES, 1996 .
Let us remember that the Pantheon is a building made of concrete. For more information on ancient concrete, see please my paper at the link http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/412