Celestial sleuth : using astronomy to solve mysteries in art, history and literature

368 Pages·2013·19.94 MB·English

by  Donald W. Olson

Celestial
Sleuth
Using Astronomy
to Solve Mysteries
in Art, History and Literature
Donald W. Olson
Springer Praxis Books
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/4097
Starry Night Over Texas State University
Donald W. Olson
Celestial Sleuth
Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries
in Art, History and Literature
Donald W. Olson
Department of Physics
Texas State University
San Marcos , TX, USA
SPRINGER–PRAXIS BOOKS IN POPULAR ASTRONOMY
ISBN 978-1-4614-8402-8 ISBN 978-1-4614-8403-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-8403-5
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013946216
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To Marilynn and Christopher

Pref ace
How did a physicist who wrote a Ph.D. thesis on relativity and cosmology
happen to publish articles that date a Vincent van Gogh night-sky painting,
solve a mystery about the Moon and tides at a World War II battle, discuss
Shakespeare’s skies, or analyze the moonlit night when Mary Shelley con-
ceived of Frankenstein ? When did I become a “celestial sleuth” applying
astronomical analysis to problems from art, history, and literature?
I can identify the precise moments more than 25 years ago when my
research career changed direction. Th ere were two such moments.
Th e fi rst came when Edgar Laird, an English professor at Texas State,
asked if I would work with him to understand some complex astronomical
passages in “Th e Franklin’s Tale,” one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales . Laird
and I eventually published several articles (see Chap. 8 ) on Chaucer’s celes-
tial references, which are probably the most complex, sophisticated, and
interesting in all of English literature.
Th e second moment came when a history professor, James Pohl, over-
heard us discussing the details of “Th e Franklin’s Tale” and Chaucer’s plot
device involving the Moon and unusually high tides. Pohl, himself a former
Marine, suggested that I try to solve the mystery of the tides at the Battle of
Tarawa, the fi rst major amphibious opposed landing of World War II in the
Pacifi c and a legendary moment in the history of the U. S. Marines. A publi-
cation entitled “Th e Tide at Tarawa” became my fi rst article to appear in Sky
& Telescope magazine (see Chap. 7 ).
None of the projects described in this book would have occurred without
those two initial conversations with Edgar Laird and James Pohl.
Th e chapters are arranged in three parts. Part I includes projects applying
astronomy to art. Th is part is organized by artist and includes analysis of
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night-sky paintings by Claude Monet, J. M. W. Turner, Vincent van Gogh,
and Edvard Munch, along with moonrise photographs by Ansel Adams.
Part II looks at historical events infl uenced by astronomy, usually involv-
ing the eff ects of moonlight or ocean tides. Sometimes both moonlight and
tides are involved, as on the night of the Boston Tea Party, the night of Paul
Revere’s ride, the sinking of the Titanic , and the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
Th is part is ordered chronologically, from the time of the fi rst Marathon run
in ancient Greece, through American colonial times and the Civil War, and
fi nally to important battles and events of World War II.
Part III analyzes astronomical references in literature, especially in cases
where an actual celestial event apparently inspired the literary passage. Th is
part is ordered chronologically and ranges from the skies above the Persia of
Omar Khayyam, a supernova that Shakespeare could have witnessed, the
moonlight shining on Mary Shelley’s window as she conceived of the idea
for Frankenstein , to a spectacular meteor procession observed by Walt
Whitman and a meteor that dropped from the sky over James Joyce’s Dublin.
Texas State University , San Marcos , TX , USA Donald W. Olson
Foreword
One day in 1987 at S ky & T elescope magazine, a manuscript arrived “over the
transom” from Donald W. Olson, a young physics professor in Texas. It dealt
with the phase of the Moon, ocean tides, and a famous battle of World War
II. All of us on the staff liked it a lot, but we didn’t know quite what to do with
it: Where in the magazine could it go?
Probably because I rooted for it the loudest, Olson’s article wound up in
the Astronomical Computing Department that I conducted at the time.
Little did any of us then realize, it was to launch a whole new type of article
the magazine had never carried before. Today, his contributions to S ky &
Telescope alone number three dozen and counting.
In this book, Olson reopens many of those same topics and presents some
new ones besides. Without exception, they share a common thread. Each
one explores a subtle but pivotal connection between astronomy and a
famous historical event or creative work of art or literature.
So how, you ask, did he come up with this fascinating material? Almost all
of it grows out of the honors course he teaches at Texas State University.
Olson likes to pick topics his students might already know a little about, like
a poem they learned in high school or a painting they could have seen hang-
ing in a museum. Together, professor and students examine astronomical
clues typically overlooked or misunderstood by historians and art critics. As
the students become involved, quite oft en they make a new fi nding that cor-
rects a widely accepted but inaccurate historical date or event.
Th eir discoveries never fail to interest a far broader audience. In fact, they
make news – the kind the wire services pick up, or that ricochets around the
web. Imagine our surprise at S ky & Telescope when Olson’s article about one
of Chaucer’s tales produced a reaction in France’s widely respected newspa-
per, Le Monde . Aft er a piece about Ansel Adams was noticed and reported in
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