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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 834: Ordered Universe, IV: The Medieval Science of Sound as You've Never Heard It Before

Tuesday 2 July 2019, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Ordered Universe Project
Organiser:Giles E. M. Gasper, Department of History, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:Tom McLeish, Department of Physics / Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 834-aSeeing Sound as Movement in the Medieval Mind
(Language: English)
Joshua Harvey, Department of Engineering Science / Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
Index terms: Science, Technology
Paper 834-bThe Sound of Silence: Grosseteste's 'On the Generation of Sound' and the Secret Reception of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
(Language: English)
Sigbjørn Olsen Sønnesyn, Department of History, Durham University
Index terms: Philosophy, Science
Abstract

Session 4 of 4: Taking as its centrepiece Robert Grosseteste's treatise On the Generation of Soundsthis session approaches the medieval science of sound from a contemporary as well as a historical perspective. Grosseteste's idiosyncratic account of how sound, and particularly vocal sound, is generated will be discussed on its own terms. In addition, however, modern scientific research can cast further light on the physical and perceptual phenomena surrounding sound that Grosseteste will have observed. The session showcases the exciting collaboration between historical and scientific approaches and the new light that can be shed on a medieval science of sound.