Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 3, 2005 3:25:04 GMT -6
Pope's stargazers teach tomorrow's astronomers
CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy (Reuters) - Everyone knows the Vatican is interested in Heaven but it may come as a surprise to some that it is also interested in the heavens.
In this sleepy lakeside village away from the noise and haste of Rome, the Vatican is helping to train tomorrow's astronomers -- regardless of their religious beliefs.
For the past 20 years, the Vatican Observatory, one of the world's oldest astronomical institutes, has selected young, promising scholars for courses at the papal summer palace.
"The Vatican wants to show its appreciation for science," said Father Chris Corbally, a soft-spoken Jesuit from Britain who is the observatory's vice-director and dean of its international summer school.
"Science is an important value in human life and therefore it is important to the Catholic Church," he said on the palace terrace during a break in classes.
Popes have been intertwined with astronomy for centuries.
The Inquisition condemned Galileo for insisting that the earth revolved around the sun. It was just one step in a tango between faith and science that still goes on today.
Pope Gregory XIII, on advice of scientists, changed the calendar in 1582 to correct the errors of the Julian calendar.
By the end of the 1700s, three Vatican-sponsored observatories were studying the stars from Rome.
In 1891, Pope Leo XIII formally established the Vatican Observatory inside the Vatican behind St Peter's dome. By 1935, Rome's urban sprawl made stargazing difficult, so Pius XI moved the observatory to the summer palace south of Italy's capital.
This place is fantastic," said Sarah Chamberlain, 25, a Ph.D. from Australia, one of 25 students selected from more than 200 applicants for this year's courses on "astrobiology," or the search for evidence of life forms on other planets.
"We have very little history in my country but here you just breathe the history. There are books written in 1667 by some of the people that I have only read about or have been taught about in first year physics. To be in this place is absolutely fantastic. Galileo walks here," she said.
Much more here: go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8927585&pageNumber=0
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I have known about the Vatican's Observatory, but not the details. It would be a great place to visit...
