Imagine a time when new – and sometimes unsettling – scientific discoveries are changing the way people think about the universe. How did an artist like Shakespeare think about the sun, moon, and planets? And how do these popular conceptions of the solar system echo in today’s world?
In this bonus episode of Eclipsing History, we explore “Eclipses in the Language of Shakespeare.” This is based on Dr. Stephanie Gearhart’s lecture for the Eclipse Speaker Series at BGSU in 2024. For more information, check bgsu.edu/eclipsinghistory
Learn how organizations from Cleveland and Northwest Ohio to see how they are preparing for the eclipse, the logistical challenges and the exciting activities planned for the 2024 eclipse.
Andrew Hershberger, professor of Art History in Bowling Green State University, talks about the history of the camera obscura—the main instrument used to observe eclipses and the precursor of the photographic camera. Listen to this fascinating account in the history of art, science and technology. The interview was done by Sam Davis, M.A. student in the public history program at Bowling Green State University.
Early in our project we interviewed Randall Rosenfeld, archivist from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. You will notice that midway we had to switch to a phone line. The depth of Randall’s answers well overcome any loss in audio quality. Randall weaves the eclipse observation to the cultural and political history of Canada as a colony and then as an independent nation. Randall also discussed how settlers perceived indigenous views of astronomy.
This bonus episode focuses on the Hopewell earthworks—true astronomical marvels of ancient Ohioan civilizations located only a few miles away from the totality path of the 2024 North American eclipse. Stay with us to learn more about these monuments, the civilizations behind them and their relationship to other civilizations in the Americas.
A non-lineal history of eclipses in Mexico that uses the great 6-minute of August 23rd, 1691 as the starting point to discuss the longer history of eclipses in Mexico.
