Org. Florence Somer, Divna Manolova, Scott Trigg, Matthieu Husson
How to attend?
The seminar is open for online attendance with the following link : Hybrid seminar link
The seminar is open to the public who would like to come in person at Paris Observatory. In this case registration is mandatory. Please register by sending an email with the subject “eida-seminar-dates” in object to matthieu.husson@obspm.fr at least 24h in advance of the seminar session you wish to attend. Then 15 min before the seminar time present yourself at 77 avenue Denfert Rochereau 75014 Paris with an ID document.
All times given for Paris
Theme
Building on last year’s focus on scholarly discussions of diagrammatic idioms and the ways historical actors used them in diagrams and other forms of representation, we successfully began to shape a common analytical vocabulary around astronomical diagrams, along with a reasoned set of digital representations of them. This year, we seek to expand on that foundation by exploring both established and emerging historiographical practices in the study of diagrams, and texts-diagrams relationships, within the history of science and art history. Our goal is to critically examine the types of questions that have been, or could be, posed to diagrams and diagram collections, and to assess the analytical and critical tools that historians have used—or may use in the future—to address these questions. In particular, we will explore how digital tools can reshape research practices and the new perspectives they offer to researchers. For instance, EIDA can offer dynamic, layered representations of diagrams in historical sources, we aim to assess the potential of these representations to provide innovative tools that enhance how historians of astronomy visualize, edit, and engage with diagram collections, thereby renewing existing historiographical approaches and opening new avenues of research.
Format
As with last year, the seminar format will remain informal and collaborative. We aim to create a space for discussing and workshopping ongoing projects from both EIDA team members and external guests. Each presenter will be invited to introduce their corpus, research questions, and methods of analysis. This approach will allow us to progressively map the diversity of historiographical perspectives while identifying shared fundamental methodological principles, which could form the basis for new standards in the digital edition of astronomical diagrams.
EIDA Zotero Bibliography: https://www.zotero.org/groups/4946145/eida-diagrams_literature
If you would like to receive access and be able to contribute to the bibliography, please contact us.
Program
Schedule for presentations:
January 28, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Matthieu Husson (LTE-Observatoire de Paris) Diagrams edition in Erasmus Reinhold copy of the Epitome Almagesti
February 11, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Divna Manolova (UGent): Interrogating Variants and Variations in Cleomedean Universal Diagrams
March 25, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Samuel Gessner (CIUHCT Lisbon) Diagrams from different contexts (epistemic, thematic, cultural) in a single work: Arabes Maxime
May 06, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Florence Somer (LTE-Observatoire de Paris), Astrological diagrams in Persian and Turkish sources
June 17, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Stefan Zieme (HU Berlin): The diagrams of the Almagest: George of Trebizond and the revision of lines and angles
July 08, 2025, 10h-12h (Paris Time)
Scott Trigg (LTE-Observatoire de Paris): The discussion of “false dawn” or zodiacal light in Ṭūsī’s al-Tadhkira fī ʿilm al-hayʾa (Memoir on Astronomy)