
Talk
The Origin of the Constellations
Professor John D Barrow FRS · Gresham College
About
Who invented the constellations? The constellations that we use to group stars into visually associated groups have ancient origins and have been hugely influential throughout human history. This lecture looks at the appearance of the ancient constellations and show how it is possible to deduce from their appearance when and where the first constellation makers lived. This leads to a curious historical puzzle since some famous commentators in the ancient world describe patterns of constellations that they could not have witnessed when and where they lived.
The talk
Credits and licence
- Institution
- Gresham College
- Speaker
- Professor John D Barrow FRS
- Year
- 2007
- Level
- For everyone
- Language
- English
- Subjects
- Physics, Astronomy and space
- Source
- Gresham College
- Licence
- Educational use (Gresham College's terms), as Gresham College states it. Gresham College's terms
- Attribution
- Gresham College states: "We positively encourage the use of the Gresham College lecture transcripts, audio and video files for educational purposes. However, we do not allow use of Gresham College materials for commercial, personal or institutional gain."
- Who can watch
- Gresham College gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed
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