to Contribute to Science

Science only knows one commandment: contribute to science. This line, spoken by the title character in Bertolt Brecht's The Life of Galileo, inspired the title of this collection of science writing by 59 diverse authors. Most of the pieces collected by editor Edmund Blair Bolles are excerpted from texts by working scientists or natural philosophers, including George Smoot of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer to Lucretius. Marie Curie's joy on seeing the lovely, glowing bottles of impure radium in her workroom at night is just one of the vivid images to be extracted from this volume, though with far less effort than the radium cost the Curies...

Marie Curie reminisces about her and her husband's efforts to isolate the element radium. Herodotus observes the Nile Valley and concludes that it was once under water. Carl Sagan argues against assertions that aliens regularly visit Earth. These are among the literary gems...

Edmund Blair Bolles includes in GALILEO'S COMMANDMENT. Bolles has scoured the literature of science to build a treasury that is accessible and riveting, appealing to readers unfamiliar with science yet erudite enough for the scientifically initiated reader to enjoy. The authors include scientists well-known for their writing - including Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Feynman and Charles Darwin - and scientists such as Kepler, James Clerk Maxwell, Alfred Wallace, and of course Galileo himself. The writings here span time and the scientific disciplines (the earliest pieces dates to c.444 BC) and the result is a fascinating collection , ideal for browsing or for reading cover to cover...

Χαρτογραφίες

http://www.maplibrary.gr/TheCentre_el.htm

Το Εθνικό Κέντρο Χαρτών και Χαρτογραφικής Κληρονομιάς (ΕΚΕΧΧΑΚ) - Εθνική Χαρτοθήκη 
είναι κοινωφελές, μη κερδοσκοπικό, μερικά αυτοχρηματοδοτούμενο, με κύριους σκοπούς του την ανάπτυξη και διάδοση της χαρτογραφίας και των χαρτών στον πολιτισμό, την εκπαίδευση, την καθημερινή ζωή και τη διοίκηση. Ασχολείται επίσης  με τη σύνταξη ψηφιακού αρχείου χαρτών και με την ανάπτυξη των νέων ψηφιακών τεχνολογιών πληροφόρησης και επικοινωνίας και την παροχή τεχνογνωσίας. Μέσα για την επίτευξη των σκοπών του είναι οι εκθέσεις, οι εκδόσεις σε έντυπη και ψηφιακή μορφή, τα σεμινάρια και οι συναφείς εθνικές και διεθνείς δραστηριότητες και συνεργασίες. Συμβάλει στην ανάπτυξη και διάδοση της πολιτιστικής, εκπαιδευτικής, κοινωνικής, καλλιτεχνικής, επιστημονικής και τεχνολογικής διάστασης της Χαρτογραφίας και των Χαρτών, σε μια κοινωνία βασισμένη στη γνώση, την πληροφορία και την επικοινωνία, με μέσα τις νέες τεχνολογίες και τις σύγχρονες ψηφιακές προσεγγίσεις στην εθνική και παγκόσμια Χαρτογραφική Κληρονομιά.

Με την τροποποίηση του ιδρυτικού νόμου το 2006 προστέθηκαν μια σειρά σκοπών ευρωπαϊκού περιεχομένου. Μεταξύ άλλων η παροχή και διάδοση της πληροφόρησης που παρέχεται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση (Ε.Ε.) στην Ελλάδα,  η διοργάνωση εκδηλώσεων, όπως σεμιναρίων, διαλέξεων, ημερίδων, εκθέσεων, συνεδρίων, παιχνιδιών και καλλιτεχνικών εκδηλώσεων, για την ενημέρωση και την ευαισθητοποίηση των πολιτών και των τοπικών φορέων σχετικά με γενικά ευρωπαϊκά θέματα, η μεταφορά στις αρμόδιες ελληνικές αρχές και στα όργανα της Ε.Ε. των προβληματισμών των τοπικών κοινωνιών για θέματα ευρωπαϊκού ενδιαφέροντος, η ανάθεση και η εκπόνηση μελετών, καθώς και η παροχή υπηρεσιών, κ.ά.
Το Κέντρο συνεργάζεται με συλλέκτες χαρτών και με φορείς που διαθέτουν συλλογές. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, η Εθνική Χαρτοθήκη ψηφιοποιεί και τεκμηριώνει στην ψηφιακή χαρτοθήκη της τους χάρτες μεγάλων συλλογών:Μέχρι σήμερα έχει συνεργαστεί με φορείς όπως η Αγιορειτική Χαρτοθήκη, το Ελληνικό Λογοτεχνικό και Ιστορικό Αρχείο (ΕΛΙΑ), ο Δήμος Θεσσαλονίκης (Αντιδημαρχία Αρχιτεκτονικού και Τοπογραφίας) και ιδιωτικές συλλογές.Επιπλέον, στο Κέντρο τεκμηριώνονται ηλεκτρονικά, σε ψηφιακά αρχεία και οι σημαντικότεροι χάρτες της Ιστορίας της Χαρτογραφίας, ώστε να είναι δυνατή η άμεση ανεύρεσή τους από ενδιαφερόμενους μελετητές και ερευνητές.

a Human Scale Library

The Heart of the Metropolis is a proposal for a new central library in the city of Helsinki. The building takes its inspiration from the city and nearby surroundings. It is a volume shooting out from the ground, like many other places in Helsinki rocks naturally appear as popping out in the city centre.

The building is interacting with people on a human scale, by making it possible for people to walk on top of the sloped roof. The sloped roof drags the surrounding park on top of the building, and connects the building with its surroundings. The building is pointed towards the surrounding parkland and the bay, which gives a great view from the inside and from the roof.

The building is equipped with double skin facades which are part of an advanced hybrid ventilation system, that will ensure a low energy performance and a good indoor climate. The double skin facade keeps the building as transparent as possible to have an open building with good light conditions and respecting its context. The sloped roof is facing south and has installed 500m2 of solar cells that will contribute to keep the energy performance as low as possible.

The concept for the floor plans is, instead of having a traditional atrium, to have an inverted atrium. This means that the floor plans will be offset from the facades. This creates the feeling of one big connected open space. The ground floor is offset from the facade as well and this adds a good spatial quality to the basement, because the light then will be dragged down into the basement as well as the other upper floor plans.

The project is a master thesis project by Sonny Holmberg and Luke Lorimer developed at the AD:MT at Aalborg University, Denmark.
 

Violin and Palette

Violin and Palette (Violon et palette), September 1, 1909. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 16 7/8 inches (91.7 x 42.8 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York  54.1412. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Other Cubist Works

When Georges Braque abandoned a bright Fauve palette and traditional perspective in 1908, it was the inspiration of Paul Cézanne's geometrized compositions that led him to simplified faceted forms, flattened spatial planes, and muted colors. By the end of that year, Braque and Pablo Picasso, who first met in 1907, began to compare the results of their techniques and it became obvious to both artists that they had simultaneously and independently invented a revolutionary style of painting, later dubbed "Cubism" by Guillaume Apollinaire. During the next few years the new style blossomed with stunning rapidity from its initial formative stage to high Analytic Cubism. The hallmarks of this advanced phase, so-called for the "breaking down" or "analysis" of form and space, are seen in an extraordinary pair of pendant works, Violin and Palette (Violon et palette, 1909–10) and Piano and Mandola (Piano et mandore, 1909–10).

Objects are still recognizable in the paintings, but are fractured into multiple facets, as is the surrounding space with which they merge. The compositions are set into motion as the eye moves from one faceted plane to the next, seeking to differentiate forms and to accommodate shifting sources of light and orientation. In Violin and Palette, the segmented parts of the violin, the sheets of music, and the artist's palette are vertically arranged, heightening their correspondence to the two-dimensional surface. Ironically, Braque depicted the nail at the top of the canvas in an illusionistic manner, down to the very shadow it cast, thus emphasizing the contrast between traditional and Cubist modes of representation. The same applies to the naturalistic candle in Piano and Mandola, which serves as a beacon of stability in an otherwise energized composition of exploding crystalline forms: the black-and-white piano keys all but disembodied; the sheets of music virtually disintegrated; the mandola essentially decomposed.

"When fragmented objects appeared in my painting around 1909," Braque later explained, "it was a way for me to get as close as possible to the object as painting allowed."1 If the appeal of still life was its implied tactile qualities, as Braque noted, then musical instruments held even more significance in that they are animated by one's touch. Like the rhythms and harmonies that are the life of musical instruments, dynamic spatial movement is the essence of Braque's lyrical Cubist paintings.

solid Earth...

As the premier international newspaper of the Earth and space sciences, Eos seeks to forge strong interdisciplinary ties among geophysicists and place the important contributions of geophysics in the context of the social and policy-making arenas.

More than 61,000 Earth and space scientists worldwide rely on Eos for timely articles that offer solid overviews of topics central to broad research questions; updates on major projects and programs; news items; meeting summaries; opinion pieces; book reviews; and announcements of job opportunities, grants, and fellowships. In addition, Eos provides information about AGU's policies, programs, services, and products.

Eos covers the broad spectrum of geophysics topics: solid Earth sciences, oceans, atmospheres, biospheres, freshwater, space science, history of the geosciences, and education, among others. Published every Tuesday except for the last Tuesday of the year, Eos is distributed by mail in the US and is available online to all AGU members.

...his Opera, Taras Bulba

Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912--sometimes transliterated as Nikolai or Nicolai Lysenko or Lissenko) is considered the father of Ukrainian chamber music much the way that Glinka is for the Russians. He was the first Ukrainian composer to write chamber music. In 1904, he founded the first music conservatory in the Ukraine in Kiev, which today bears his name. Lysenko was born in the Poltava district of the Ukraine. He first studied piano with his mother, then formally with teachers in Kiev. After taking a degree in the natural sciences at the University of Kiev, he attended the world famous Leipzig Conservatory where he studied composition with Carl Reinecke.

An admirer of the Ukrainian poet Shevchenko, Lysenko became a nationalist for the Ukrainian cause as a student. He remained one for his entire life and was imprisoned for the cause as late as 1907 after composing a song in support of the Revolution of 1905. The bulk of Lysenko's music is for piano or for voice in one form or another such as opera, hymns, or chorales. His piano music often shows the influence of Chopin whereas his vocal music is almost always based on Ukrainian folk music such as his opera Taras Bulba. Lysenko spent considerable time trying to demonstrate the differences between Ukrainian and Russian folk melody. The only chamber music he is known to have composed is this string quartet and a string trio.

The quartet dates from 1868 when Lysenko was finishing his studies with Reinecke in Leipzig. The big, opening movement, Allegro non tanto, begins in a rather dramatic, somewhat operatic fashion. The themes bear some resemblance to those of Glinka's opera Ruslan and Ludmilla. Despite the movement's length, the drama and forward motion are almost never relaxed. The simple but charming melody of the following Adagio is in the form of a chorale. The manuscript only has three movements and it is not known whether there was a fourth movement or whether the third movement was meant as the finale. It is an engaging Minuetto, allegretto scherzando.

A collected edition of Lysenko's works, including this quartet, was published in 70 volumes between 1950 and 1959, however, a performance edition of the parts and score were never separately published. Our World Premiere Edition has been carefully edited and corrected by Loren Silvertrust from a copy of the original manuscript located in Kiev, Ukraine. Like all of our works, it is printed on top grade paper with an ornate cover and biographical information about the composer.
 

manmade Wings

Serving as a monument and memorial to the UAE’s founding President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed National Museum will be a focal point of the emerging Saadiyat Island Cultural District. All aspects of the Museum, from architectural design to museum exhibit themes were conceived to reflect the life and values of the late Sheikh Zayed.

The Museum’s striking wing shaped towers were designed to evoke thoughts of a flying falcon to pay homage to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. They act as thermal towers, an integral part of the natural cooling system that draw hot air up and out creating a low pressure flow of cool air from outside in through the museum. This system will cut down on climate control costs and reduce environmental impact, in line with Sheikh Zayed’s advocacy of environmental friendliness. The wing towers will also hold the museum galleries in their bases.

The wings will shoot out of a manmade 30 meter high earth mound, which will house the underground lobby area complete with retail, open performance areas, dining and an auditorium. The underground lobby will take advantage of the thermal effect of the earth, further reducing climate control costs. The entire museum will be surrounded by a body of water to create a distinct cultural landmark amongst many planned for the Cultural District on Saadiyat Island.

The Foster + Partners design is the first of four major art and history centers to be realized in the Cultural District. Frank Ghery’s Guggenheim Museum, Zaha Hadid’s Performing Arts Center, and Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhab are all planned to join the Zayed National Museum over the next five years. The Museum has been under construction since Fall of 2010, and is planned to be completed by 2014.

to Breath...

Για να Ζήσει ο Κόσμος
Αλέξανδρος Σμέμαν

.....Μετάφρασα το βιβλίο αυτό επειδή καταγίνεται με τον κόσμο. Κόσμο λέγοντας εννοώ ολόκληρο το φυσικό σύμπαν. Και σήμερα περισσότερο από κάθε άλλη φορά ο κόσμος ή η οικουμένη, όπως λέγανε άλλοτε το γνωστό κόσμο, ή ο πλανήτης (και οι άλλοι πλανήτες) συγκεντρώνει ολόκληρη την προσοχή του ανθρώπου, αφήνοντας περιθώρια μετρημένα για αναζητήσεις με διαφορετική κατεύθυνση - δηλαδή αναζητήσεις με κατεύθυνση, όχι προς τον κόσμο ή προς τα έξω, αλλά προς τον άνθρωπο ή προς τα μέσα. Στις περιοχές όπου ζούμε τέτοια κατεύθυνση προς τα μέσα έδωσε στον άνθρωπο ο Χριστιανισμός και, πριν από το Χριστιανισμό, η Αρχαία Ελλάδα με το στόμα του Θουκυδίδη που βεβαίωνε πως δε θα σταματήσουν ποτέ τα ανθρώπινα δεινά, πολλά και χαλεπά γινόμενα μεν και αιεί εσόμενα, όσο θα δοκιμάζομε να αλλάξουμε τον κόσμο -Μαρξ- αφήνοντας απείραχτο τον άνθρωπο (έως αν η αυτή φύσις ανθρώπων η). Σε άλλες περιοχές την ίδια κατεύθυνση ή αναζήτηση προς τα μέσα έδωσαν οι άλλες σεβάσμιες πνευματικές παραδόσεις όσες αφήσανε αχνάρια ή εξακολουθούν να υπάρχουν στις μέρες μας -να αριθμούν δηλαδή πιστούς- και στις πέντε ηπείρους. Τα πραχτικά αποτελέσματα από τις διδασκαλίες αυτές, μέσα σε τόσους αιώνες, τελικά στάθηκαν πενιχρά και, μπροστά στα τόσα μαθήματα, θα μπορούσε κανένας δίκαια να αναρωτηθεί με τον ποιητή: "Οι άνθρωποι δεν ακούνε;". Θα μπορούσε ακόμα κανένας να αναρωτηθεί και ποια θα ήταν ενδεχόμενα η κατάσταση του κόσμου δίχως τις διδασκαλίες αυτές. [...]

(από τον πρόλογο του Ζήσιμου Λορεντζάτου

Пско́во-Печ́ерский Успе́нский монасты́рь

Pskov-Caves Monastery or The Pskovo-Pechersky Dormition Monastery or Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery (Russian: Пско́во-Печ́ерский Успе́нский монасты́рь, Estonian: Petseri klooster) is a Russian Orthodox male monastery, located in Pechory, Pskov Oblast in Russia, just a few kilometers from the Estonian border.

The monastery was founded in the mid-15th century, when the first hermits settled in local caves. The first cave Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (церковь Успения Богородицы) was built in 1473 (its modern facade was constructed in the 18th century).

Ivan the Terrible's repentance: he asks the hegumen (father superior) Cornelius of the Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery to let him take the tonsure at his monastery. Painting by Klavdy Lebedev.
After the monastery had been destroyed by the Livonian feudals, it was rebuilt by a Pskovian dyak Mikhail Munekhin-Misyur in 1519. A posad (settlement) was built next to the monastery, which would later grow into a town. In 1550s-1560s, Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery and its posad were surrounded by a wall with towers (eventually, these fortifications were rebuilt in 1701).

The monastery became an important outpost for defending the western border of Russia. In 1581–1582, it withstood the siege laid by Stefan Batory’s army. In 1611–1616, the monastery repelled the attack of the Polish army led by Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Aleksander Józef Lisowski and Swedish army led by Gustav II Adolf.

Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery lost its importance after the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. In 1920–1944, Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery belonged to Estonia. The monastery was one of the few acting male monasteries in the USSR, having been saved from destruction by Pechory being Estonian territory before World War II. In Soviet times, famous Russian mystic Sampson Sievers briefly lived and served in the monastery.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union the monastery has flourished. Currently the monastic community numbers over 90 who through their pastoral labors live the tradition of asceticism and eldership as witnessed recently by the Archimandrite John (Krestiankin). In 2003 the monastery marked the 530th anniversary of its existence.

Pskov-Caves Monastery is one of the rare Russian monasteries that hasn't been closed in any moment of its history even during World War II and Soviet regime.

ΠΡΟΤΑΣΗ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ

Σχεδόν Άγιοι
αρχιμ. Τύχωνας Σεβκούνωφ
η Ρωσία του Χθες και του Σήμερα

Jagielloński...Matejko...

The Jagiellonian University (Polish: Uniwersytet Jagielloński, often shortened to UJ; historical names: Latin: Studium Generale, University of Kraków, Kraków Academy, The Main Crown School, Main School of Kraków) was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz (district of Kraków). It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world. Positioned byTimes Higher Education Supplement,QS World University Rankings and ARWU as the best Polish university among the world's top 500.

The university fell upon hard times when the occupation of Kraków by Austria-Hungary during the Partitions of Poland threatened its existence. In 1817, soon after the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw the university was renamed as Jagiellonian University to commemorate Poland's Jagiellonian dynasty, which first revived the Kraków University in the past.In 2006, The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked Jagiellonian University as Poland's top university.In the mid-14th century, King Casimir III of Poland realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to set up an academy in Kraków. A royal charter of foundation was issued on 12 May 1364, and a simultaneous document was issued by the City Council granting privileges to the Studium Generale. The King provided funding for one chair in liberal arts, two in Medicine, three in Canon Law and five in Roman Law, funded by a quarterly payment taken from the proceeds of the royal monopoly on the salt mines at Wieliczka.

The Cracow Academy's development stalled upon the death of King Casimir, but the institution was re-founded in 1400 by King Władysław Jagiełło and his wife Saint Jadwiga, the daughter of the King Louis of Hungary and Poland. The queen donated all of her personal jewelry to the academy, allowing it to enrol 203 students. The faculties of astronomy, law and theology attracted eminent scholars: for example, John Cantius, Stanisław of Skarbimierz, Paweł Włodkowic, Jan of Głogów, and Albert Brudzewski, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of Nicolaus Copernicus's teachers. The university was the first university in Europe to establish independent chairs in Mathematics and Astronomy.