The 365 Days Of Astronomy, The Daily Podcast Of The International Year Of Astronomy 2009

Today’s guest is Dr. Seb Falk is the recipient of HAD’s 2025 Osterbrock Prize for his book “The Light Ages: the Surprising Story of Medieval Science”. His exceptionally well-written book takes the reader on a learning journey with the 14th century Benedictine monk John Westwyk who, at the end of his career in 1392, wrote an instructional manuscript in Middle English for an equatorie to compute a planet’s location. Originally discovered in 1951 and attributed to Chaucer, 30 years later the manuscript’s author was identified as Westwyk.  Based on years of meticulous scholarly research, Falk teaches the reader detailed, and progressively complicated, 14th century science in this thoroughly pleasurable story about Westwyk’s life.     H’ad astra historia is the official podcast for the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society.  We’re here to share stories from and about the people who study the stars, planets, and the cosmos. We’ll be hearing from individuals who not only study the histor