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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 734: Ordered Universe, III: What Did the Planets Ever Do For Us? - Robert Grosseteste and the Appliance of Science

Tuesday 2 July 2019, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Ordered Universe Project
Organiser:Giles E. M. Gasper, Department of History, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:Nicola Polloni, Institut für Philosophie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Paper 734-aA Discipline at the Crossroads: Grosseteste's Compotus between Philosophy and Pedagogy
(Language: English)
Philipp Nothaft, All Souls College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Science, Theology
Paper 734-bGrosseteste, the Weather, and Planetary Impact
(Language: English)
Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Index terms: Science, Social History
Paper 734-cDating Grosseteste's Comet: Observation and Report of Comets, 1000-1300
(Language: English)
Brian Tanner, Department of Physics, Durham University
Index terms: Science, Technology
Abstract

Session 3 of 4: The motion of the heavens was a persistent interest for Grosseteste, from his earliest works to his translation completed in his old age of Aristotle's treatise of the same name. This session explores the appliance of astronomical learning in the calendar, the influence of the planets on meteorological phenomena, and the natural environment. In this endeavour Grosseteste's Compotus marks a notable contribution to medieval calendrical debate; his treatise On Comets an important text raising the question of their physical composition, appearance and perception by human. Grosseteste's meteorological thought, through various treatises, will also be considered.