Kenneth C. Freeman – författare

The Milky Way has captivated the mind of multitudes ever since the beginning of time. Particularly striking are its apparent dusty gaping voids. With the advent of near-infrared technology, astronomers have discovered an awesome new view of its structure, and of the structure of other galaxies around us. Galaxies are encased within Shrouds of the Night: shrouds or veils of cosmic dust, which have given us a totally incomplete picture of what our majestic Universe actually looks like. In this book, we feature some of the remarkable early photographic work of masters such as Isaac Roberts and Edward Barnard, before presenting to the reader the unmasked (dust penetrated) view of our cosmos, using some of the world’s largest ground and space-based telescopes.

The year: 1660. The date: November 28. Present: The Lord Brouncker, Mr Boyle, Mr Bruce, Sir Robert Moray, Sir Paule Neile, Dr Wilkins, Dr Goddard, Dr Petty, Mr Ball, Mr Hooke, Mr Wren, and Mr Hill. Occasion: A lecture by Mr Wren at Gresham College, United Kingdom. AfterChristopherWrenhaddeliveredhislectureatGreshamCollegeonthathistoric occasion in November 1660, "they did according to the usual manner, withdraw for mutual converse." It was in 1660 that the Royal Society was founded, with 12 persons present. This year, 2010, is thus a special year for scientists worldwide: it celebrates the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society, whose current President is Martin Rees. One of the enormous challenges facing scientists in the 1600s was the great need fortheclassi cationofobjectstheywerestudying,particularlyinthe eldofbotany.The seeds for classi cation lie in the works of the British naturalist John Ray (1628-1705), who commencing in 1660 with hisCatalogusplantarumcirca Cantabrigiamnascentium (Catalogue of Cambridge Plants) - published in the year in which the Royal Society was founded - and ending with the posthumous publi- tion ofSynopsisMethodicaAviumetPiscium in 1713, pioneered systematic studies on plants, birds, mammals, sh, and insects.

El libro es una consideracion detallada del conflicto entre Galileo Galilei y la Iglesia Catolica Romana en el siglo XVI, el evento se utiliza a menudo para culpar a los cristianos en general, y la iglesia especificamente para una desaceleracion del progreso cientifico y la investigacion. Los doctores Block y Freeman responden rotundamente que esta conclusion esta muy lejos de la realidad. Esta obra no solo disipara el supuesto conflicto entre Iglesia/ciencia , demostrando que se trata de un mito, sino que tambien ofrece una vision magistral de lo que Galileo intento realmente conseguir. Tanto en su vida como en la de Blaise Pascal y en la de David Block, la gracia de Dios revelada en la galaxia dice mucho de quien es el Creador, al tiempo que muestra que la ciencia esta gravemente limitada sin la gracia de Dios.