Blog

May 17, 2020
6 min

New Moon - No Astrolabe!

Last week I wrote about how to read an astronomical calendar: what information they contained and what it was used for. This post is...

Seb Falk

May 16, 2020
1 min

The beauty of medieval numbers

For a bit of fun over on Twitter this week, I made my followers an offer: It was an offer that 60 of them couldn't refuse. Requests...

How to read a medieval astronomical calendar

Seb Falk

May 11, 2020
16 min

How to read a medieval astronomical calendar

What do all those columns of letters and numbers mean? This post explains how to make sense of all the information.

Seb Falk

Sep 3, 2018
1 min

John Gower and the Gruffalo

Back in June I was thrilled to get another chance to broadcast an Essay on BBC Radio 3. This one was about John Gower, “the forgotten...

Seb Falk

Nov 22, 2017
3 min

Girton College Mappa Mundi

Girton College, the Cambridge University college where I am lucky to work, owns a full-scale facsimile of the Hereford Cathedral Mappa...

Seb Falk

May 21, 2017
3 min

Heat, Comets, and Collaboration

This post is cross-posted from the Ordered Universe project blog (with different pictures). The 18th Ordered Universe symposium – and the...

Seb Falk

Dec 21, 2016
4 min

How short is the shortest day?

Happy Yule! As you probably know, Yule (Jól) was the pagan Nordic celebration of the bleak midwinter. And it’s the winter solstice...

Seb Falk

Jun 22, 2016
1 min

Medieval finger-counting on the BBC

Yesterday I had an opportunity to present some medieval science on the BBC. I had been asked to contribute to “Free Thinking” on Radio...

Seb Falk

Jun 20, 2016
3 min

The start of summer?

Facebook greeted me today with this little graphic: Given that this is the radar picture over the UK this morning, it’s not surprising...

Seb Falk

Feb 29, 2016
3 min

Leap years and astrolabes

Since today is 29th February, a leap-year-themed post is in order. This one answers the question you’ve all been asking: how are leap...

Medieval (g)astronomy: my PhD in biscuit form

Seb Falk

Feb 24, 2016
1 min

Medieval (g)astronomy: my PhD in biscuit form

I submitted my PhD thesis last week (and now have a little more time to post on this blog). In large part it’s a study of this...

Masculine Mars? Planetary degrees in medieval astrology

Seb Falk

Feb 21, 2016
4 min

Masculine Mars? Planetary degrees in medieval astrology

I handed in my PhD thesis earlier this week, so I finally have time for a new blog post. It’s another small step towards the blogging...

How did an Italian astrolabe end up on the New Zealand passport?

Seb Falk

Aug 16, 2015
5 min

How did an Italian astrolabe end up on the New Zealand passport?

A few years ago I enjoyed a blog post in which National Maritime Museum curator Rebekah Higgitt wrote about the “navigation” theme of the...

Seb Falk

Jul 13, 2015
1 min

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Inspirational Astronomy

OK, so I missed Andy Murray’s Wimbledon semi-final. And I missed seeing England hammer the Aussies in Cardiff. But I didn’t care. ...

Seb Falk

Jun 5, 2015
1 min

Angry Birds in Medieval Manuscripts

I’m just back from two very enjoyable days in Oxford, at the Bodleian Library’s wonderful new Weston Library. Apart from looking at some...

Seb Falk

Jun 2, 2015
4 min

Drawing up a medieval horoscope

I’ve written a blog post entitled “How to cast a medieval horoscope” before. But I didn’t tell the whole story. Regular readers of this...

Seb Falk

Jun 2, 2015
1 min

The Kalamazoo Medieval Experience

I recently attended my first ever Kalamazoo. This is not a strange musical instrument, or a kind of olive. It is an annual gathering of...

Seb Falk

May 29, 2015
1 min

The vernacular in medieval astronomy – at Kalamazoo

I recently returned from the International Congress on Medieval Studies. It’s held every year at the University of Western Michigan in...

Historic navigational instruments on trial

Seb Falk

Mar 25, 2015
4 min

Historic navigational instruments on trial

I started this blog when I reconstructed a medieval equatorium. I wanted to understand how it worked, and the best way was to follow the...

Precision and accuracy in medieval astronomy

Seb Falk

Jan 21, 2015
4 min

Precision and accuracy in medieval astronomy

What is the difference between precision and accuracy? In modern English they are used almost interchangeably. But there is a...

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