[Sci-tech-public] World of Michael of Rhodes Conference

[Dawn Davis Loring]

Please post:

The World of Michael of Rhodes

A conference sponsored by the Dibner Institute 
for the History of Science and Technology, MIT, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts

December 1-3, 2005

In 1401, a young man named Michael of Rhodes 
entered Venetian service as a humble galley 
oarsman. Over the next four decades, he rose to 
the highest positions a non-noble could hold in 
the Venetian navy. He fought in several major sea 
battles. He sailed on numerous commercial voyages 
to such fabled destinations as Alexandria and 
Constantinople. He commanded ships and even the 
movement of galley fleets.

In 1434, this remarkable man sat down to write a 
manuscript representing the essential knowledge 
he possessed as a master mariner. Among the 
jewels it contains are 180 pages of mathematics, 
numerous calendars, wonderful astrological 
illustrations, some of the earliest extant 
navigational portolans, and the earliest known 
European treatise on shipbuilding.

On December 1-3, 2005, the Dibner Institute for 
the History of Science and Technology will host 
the first public conference about Michael of 
Rhodes. The contents of Michael's long-lost 
manuscript will be presented to the world for the 
first time. Leading scholars of Venice and the 
Mediterranean will place Michael's manuscript in 
its essential historical context.

The conference is organized in preparation for 
the publication of a full edition with commentary 
on the manuscript, under the direction of Pamela 
O. Long, David McGee, and Alan M. Stahl.

Registration is free but, as space is limited, 
please RSVP to Dawn Davis Loring at 
dloring at mit.edu or 617-253-8721. For updated 
conference information, please visit 
http://dibinst.mit.edu/mor-conference.

Conference Schedule:

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Reception

Keynote Address, Pamela O. Long, Getty Scholar, Getty Research Institute

Friday, December 2, 2005

Morning: Michael and his Manuscript

Chair, Paolo Galluzzi, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
Franco Rossi, Archivio di Stato di Venezia
Alan M. Stahl, Princeton University
Dennis Romano, Syracuse University
Pamela H. Smith, Columbia University

Plenary Lecture
David Jacoby, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Afternoon: Mathematics and Navigation

Chair: Glen Van Brummelen, Bennington College
Raffaella Franci, Università di Siena
Piero Falchetta, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
Warren Van Egmond, Arizona State University
John Dotson, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Saturday, Dec 3, 2005

Morning: Shipbuilding and Shipboard Life

Chair, Filipe Vieira de Castro, Texas A&M
David McGee, Burndy Library
Mauro Bondioli, Independent Scholar
Brad Loewen, Université de Montréal
John Pryor, University of Sydney

Afternoon: Cosmos and Society

Chair, Diana Gilliland Wright, New School University
Faith Wallis, McGill University
Dieter Blume, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Patricia Fortini Brown, Princeton University
John Martin, Trinity University

Closing Plenary Lecture
Peter Spufford, Queens' College, Cambridge


This conference is organized by the Michael of 
Rhodes Project, which has been generously 
supported by grants from the National Endowment 
for the Humanities, the National Science 
Foundation, the Dibner Institute for the History 
of Science and Technology, and The Gladys Krieble 
Delmas Foundation.

Any opinions, views, findings, conclusions or 
recommendations expressed at this conference are 
those of the participants and do not necessarily 
represent those of the National Endowment for the 
Humanities, the National Science Foundation, or 
our other supporters.

-- 
Dawn Davis Loring
Workshop & Conference Coordinator
Dibner Institute
MIT Campus E56-100
38 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.253.8721

617.258.7195 (direct line)
dloring at mit.edu
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