Alfarabi and his cosmology

Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, who lived in the ninth century, left a valuable heritage for Islamic thinkers after him. In the framework of his metaphysics, he developed a theory of emanation describing the origin of the material universe. Ten intellects or intelligences are coming in succession from the First Being, and, from each of them, a sphere of the universe is produced. The first intellect created the outermost sphere and a second intellect. From this second intelligence, the sphere of the fixed stars and a third intellect had been generated. The process continues, through the spheres of the planets, downwards to the sphere of the Moon. From the Moon, a pure intelligence, defined as the active intelligence, provides a bridge between heavens and earth. In the paper, we discuss this cosmology, comparing it to the cosmology of Robert Grosseteste, an Oxonian thinker of the thirteen century.

Keywords: Al-Farabi, Robert Grosseteste, Medieval Cosmology, Medieval Science

The Ten Spheres of Al-Farabi: A Medieval Cosmology
International Journal of Sciences, 2014, 3(6), 34-39

Links
https://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/517
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2757693

Un pizzico di sale

Saliera von Benvenuto Cellini (Paris, 1540–1543) 

Courtesy: Cstutz - Own work, for Wikipedia.

La delizia sul lago Fusaro

La delizia sul lago Fusaro di Bacoli.

Casina Vanvitelliana a Bacoli (NA). 

Courtesy: Armando Mancini - Flickr: Napoli, 15 maggio 2011

La Casina Vanvitelliana fu costruita nel 1782 su un'isoletta del Lago Fusaro, nel comune di Bacoli. I lavori furono eseguiti da Carlo Vanvitelli su commissione del re Ferdinando IV di Borbone. L'intento era quello di realizzare un casino di Caccia sul lago; successivamente, data la bellezza paesaggistica del posto, il complesso fu utilizzato come residenza degli ospiti illustri che facevano visita ai reali e alla capitale. Tra i tanti uomini di storia e cultura, all'interno dell'edificio furono accolti anche Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini e, più recentemente, il Presidente della repubblica Luigi Einaudi.

Carlo Vanvitelli (1739 – Napoli, 1821) è stato un architetto e ingegnere italiano, attivo principalmente a Napoli e nei dintorni. A lui sono dovuti numerosi edifici in stile neoclassico. Dal re, nel primo Ottocento, venne nominato primario del corpo degli architetti e ingegneri. Il Vanvitelli operò anche nel completamento delle opere paterne apportando spesso modifiche all'originale dando un aspetto più sobrio ed elegante agli edifici, tra questi spicca la Reggia di Caserta. Carlo Vanvitelli è il primogenito di Luigi Vanvitelli .Luigi era nato nel 1700 a Napoli, da madre romana, Anna Lorenzani e da padre olandese, Gaspar van Wittel, che si era trasferito per lavorare nel cantiere del palazzo Reale.

North magnetic pole is moving

Of course the magnetic poles of the Earth are moving, and the magnetic declination is changing too. However, it seems that the poles are moving faster than before.

09 JANUARY 2019 - Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why.
Erratic motion of north magnetic pole forces experts to update model that aids global navigation.
"Something strange is going on at the top of the world. Earth’s north magnetic pole has been skittering away from Canada and towards Siberia, driven by liquid iron sloshing within the planet’s core. The magnetic pole is moving so quickly that it has forced the world’s geomagnetism experts into a rare move."
From https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00007-1

Radiofarmaci dal reattore TRIGA RC-1

Il Progetto MOLY: una via italiana per la produzione del radiofarmaco 99mTc, descritto al link.
Un progetto per ottenere Molibdeno 99 da cui "mungere" il Tecnezio.
Per il generatore di radionuclidi si veda http://lem.ch.unito.it/didattica/infochimica/2007_Tecnezio/generatore_radionuclidi.html

Limes and Computers

In order to protect their empire against hostile tribes, the Romans, from 40 to 240 AD, maintained a huge line of fortifications. It was the "limes" that also run through the Netherlands, from the North Sea to Nijmegen (Noviomagus). Along this line soldiers needed supplies. "Obviously the supplies had not to come from Rome, but mainly from the neighborhood", observed Mark Groenhuijzen from the Free University who investigated the limes and supplies and the network required to support them. In his investigations, Mark uses computer models to find the best solution in the framework of logistics parameters (M. Groenhuijzen, Palaeogeographic analysis of the Dutch part of the Roman limes and its hinterland (Leiden 2018)).

Many thanks to R. Essers for the reference and the link
https://www.nemokennislink.nl/publicaties/computer-berekent-bevoorrading-van-de-romeinen/

Vanvitelli

Vita dell'architetto Luigi Vanvitelli

Luigi Vanvitelli A. Trani, 1823 - Architects - 55 pages

Gaspare Vanvitelli

Caspar van Wittel - The Piazzetta from the Bacino di San Marco 

Courtesy: Web Gallery of Art 

Today:

The Roman Limes

The Roman Limes in the Netherlands:
How a delta landscape determined the location of the military structures.

Marieke van Dinter
April 2013 Geologie en Mijnbouw 92(1):11-32
DOI: 10.1017/S0016774600000251
Available at Researchgate

"From the 40s A.D. onwards a dense military system was established in the Lower Rhine delta in the Netherlands. Long since, it is questioned why this system was established in a wetland area and even turned into the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire, the Limes. A new detailed palaeogeographical map, based on a digital elevation model (LIDAR), soil maps and excavation results, was constructed.  .... "

La notte che la legione partì

La notte che la legione partì

Si discute dell’incendio che devastò Torino nel 69 d.C. Nella città erano stati acquartierati i Batavi e la Legione XIV. Dopo una lite sorta tra i soldati, Vitellio ordinò alla legione di lasciare la città. La notte che la legione partì, i fuochi dei bivacchi lasciati accesi provocarono l’incendio. In questo articolo vi mostro come la vicenda è stata riportata in letteratura, travisando  il testo di Tacito che narra l’accaduto, per dar la colpa ai Batavi.

The article is discussing the fire that devastated Turin in 69 AD. At the time, the Batavian and Legion XIV had been quartered in the town. After a quarrel among soldiers, Vitellius ordered the legion to leave the city. The night the legion left Torino, the bivouac fires were left to burn, causing the burning of the town. Here I show how the story has been reported in the literature, misrepresenting the Tacitus' text in order to blame the Batavian.

Het artikel is een bespreking van de brand die Turijn verwoestte in 69 AD. In die tijd waren Bataafse strijdkrachten en Legioen XIV in de stad ingekwartierd. Na een ruzie tussen soldaten beval Vitellius het legioen de stad te verlaten. De nacht dat het legioen Turijn verliet, werden de bivakvuren achtergelaten om te branden, die de brand van de stad veroorzaakten. Hier laat ik zien hoe het verhaal is gerapporteerd in de literatuur, waarbij de tekst van Tacitus verkeerd werd weergegeven om de Bataven de schuld te geven.